Police carry out controlled explosion near U.S. Embassy in London after suspicious package found
London — Police in London carried out a controlled explosion Friday after finding a suspicious package near the U.S. Embassy in the British capital. They blocked off roads near the embassy compound, which sits on the south side of the Thames river in London’s Nine Elms neighborhood.
“We can confirm that the ‘loud bang’ reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement posted online.
The embassy said in its own social media post that police had closed a road near the building out of “an abundance of caution.”
Mina Kim/REUTERS
Later Friday, the embassy said in a new statement that the facility was “back to normal business operations,” but that all public appointments were cancelled for the remainder of the day, with people scheduled to renew passports and attend other appointments told to await emails to reschedule.
said in a statement that an explosives ordnance team was deployed to investigate the item, “as a precaution.”
“This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the South Terminal have been closed,” the police said. “We are advising the public to avoid the area where possible.”
Tucker Reals
Source: cbsnews.com