(Adds gunshot reports being apparent false alarm; quotes)
NEW DELHI (AFP)--Officials at New Delhi's international airport denied media reports of shots fired at the facility Thursday overnight, and said no incidents had been detected.
K.R. Singh, the official in charge of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) airport control room, confirmed that the Indira Gandhi Airport had been the scene of a security scare, but that reports of gunfire were apparently a false alarm.
"We have combed the airport inch by inch and we have found nothing. The same is for the domestic airport. Nothing has happened," Singh said.
"All our men are still searching but have found nothing. We have no incident," he said.'
The NDTV, Times Now and CNN-IBN news channels had said there were unconfirmed reports of up to three shots fired from a car near the international terminal, and that security forces were investigating. At one point, the BBC said six gunmen had been shot - but that element was dropped from later BBC accounts.
CISF Deputy Inspector General Udayan Banerjee later told NDTV that "there was no eyewitness" to any shooting "and no injuries."
"Everything is OK. There is no evidence of gunfire. Nothing like that has come up," he said, adding that people who sparked the alert had only heard "sounds similar to gunfire."
India had put its airports on high alert Thursday following warnings of possible attacks using hijacked aircraft, a week after Islamist militants launched a devastating assault on Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people. Defense Minister A.K. Antony ordered the armed forces to be on guard against "any terror strikes from the air."
The Press Trust of India news agency said an attack may be timed to coincide with the Dec. 6 anniversary of the destruction of the Babri mosque in northern India by Hindu extremists in 1992.
-Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5500
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 04, 2008 17:44 ET (22:44 GMT)

Publié le 04 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones