Ljubljana: A 29-year-old man threw a backpack over the fence of the American embassy in the Slovenian capital city of Ljubljana, triggering a bomb scare, a news agency reported. The backpack later turned out to be safe.
The man was arrested by police. Officials cordoned off the area soon after the incident took place on Wednesday.
No harmful objects or substances were found in the backpack, which was later destroyed by police, the Ljubljana police administration said.
Preliminary investigations showed that the incident was "a case of a tasteless joke", the Slovenian Press Agency quoted Police Commissioner Janko Gorsek as saying.
The man who threw the backpack is suspected of suffering from a mental illness. He has been taken out of custody to be provided medical treatment, police said.
US embassies all over the world have been put on high alert after the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Wednesday's incident should "serve as a wake-up call that even in safe Slovenia, bad things could happen", the US embassy said in a statement.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, May 05, 2011, 10:06