January 1, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 29, 1426

BANGALORE, Dec 31: Police evacuated a luxury hotel in Bangalore on Saturday following a bomb threat as detectives searched for a gunman who three days ago shot dead a professor at a science conference.

In the nearby city of Hyderabad, police ordered workers and guests to vacate the five-storied Cyber Tower, which houses several international software firms and restaurants, following a similar bomb threat, a police spokesman said.

“We searched it for three hours and we have come to the conclusion it was a hoax and now we are trying to the trace the anonymous telephone caller who claimed a bomb had been planted in the building,” the official said.

In Bangalore, where thousands of security personnel are patrolling the streets, the police evacuated guests who had gathered at the landmark hotel for New Year celebrations following a separate threat, the city police said.

“We have also restricted movement of people and vehicles in the high-profile area and no outsider is being allowed to enter the chief minister’s residence or his office without permission,” the spokesman said.

A day after the unidentified gunman stormed the conference, killing professor M.C. Puri and injuring four delegates, a man calling himself Moinuddin warned there would be bomb blasts on New Year’s Eve at a five-star hotel.

“The evacuation is precautionary but we are not taking Moinuddin’s claim lightly,” a top police official said as revellers waited in the hotel’s lawns for clearence.

No individual or group has claimed credit for the shootout at the Indian Institute of Science, which killed New Delhi-based Puri and caused panic among the 300 scientists attending the conference.

In New Delhi, economist-turned-premier Manmohan Singh lashed out at the attacker who killed Prof Puri, a renowned mathematician.

“This was a dastardly attack which was aimed at innocent scientists who work for the benefit of entire mankind and who are engaged in academic work,” the prime minister said in a letter to the slain professor’s widow, Raksha.

“As a fellow academic, I am personally grieved at the loss of Puri’s life.

“I am also aware that this most unexpected incident would have cast a pall of gloom on the family,” Mr Singh said of Prof Puri, who was engaged in operations research which has wide military application.

Thousands of policemen were also out on the streets of the Indian capital following the attack in Bangalore, an outsourcing hub that is home to more than 1,500 domestic and foreign technology firms. —AFP