Bomb threat in Yerevan. Mashtots avenue blocked.

At around 11:00 o’clock Mashtots avenue (the Prospect) was blocked in Yerevan in the area down from Pushkin str. crossroad to the Margaryan Polyclinic. The police and special service officers in civilian uniform refused to inform what is happening, telling to get out of there as quick as possible. The shopkeeper across the street said there’s been a bomb threat. Watching how relaxed the military uniform guys standing around the object, supposed to be the “bomb”, were you wouldn’t think there’s anything really serious. The police blocking the avenue were, however, quite serious and stern looking.

Police and special services disarm a bomb in Yerevan © Artur Papyan / The Armenian Observer Blog 2008

At any rate - my office is close by, so I’ll go over check again in 10-15 minutes.

UPDATE: by 11:45 the Prospect was re-opened. A1plus later reported (using my photos by the way), that it was indeed a bomb, which police and special services have successfully disarmed. The case is under investigation now.

This entry was posted on May 8, 2008 at 10:50 am and is filed under Armenia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Bomb threat in Yerevan. Mashtots avenue blocked.”

  1. Observer Says:
    May 8, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    Wow! It was indeed a bomb and A1plus have used my photos - with my consent of course :) http://a1plus.am/amu/?page=issue&iid=60319

    ՊԱՅԹՈՒՑԻԿ ՍԱՐՔ ՀԵՌԱԽՈՍԱՏՈՒՓՈՒՄ

    [13:03] 08 Մայիսի, 2008

    Այսօր ժամը 9.45-ին ժամը 09.40-ին, ոստիկանության Կենտրոնականի բաժնում ահազանգ է ստացվել, որ Մաշտոցի պողոտայի 24 շենքի դիմացի մայթին` ՚Նովաՙ սրճարանի մոտ կասկածելի մեխանիզմ է դրված:

    Դեպքի վայր են մեկնել փրկարար ծառայության, ոստիկանության եւ ԱԱԾ աշխատակիցները:

    Ինչպես հայտնում է ոստիկանության լրատվական ծառայությունը` մեկնած օպերատիվ խումբը նշված վայրում` ՚Սամսունգՙ ֆիրմայի բջջային հեռախոսի տուփի մեջ, հայտնաբերել եւ վնասազերծել է ինքնաշեն պայթուցիկ սարք:

    Կատարվում է հետաքննություն:

  2. grigor sargsyan Says:
    May 8, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    Artur, is it “close buy” or “close by”. I am reading everything here and there though a bit passive on commenting.

  3. Global Voices Online » Armenia: Bomb Alert Says:
    May 8, 2008 at 9:10 pm

    [...] Armenian Observer posts photographs and an account of discovering one of Yerevan's main roads blocked off by polic… after a small home-made bomb was discovered. The bomb was later defused. Posted by Onnik [...]

  4. Observer Says:
    May 8, 2008 at 10:02 pm

    Grigor - thanks for warning, it should indeed be “close by”. I just corrected it.

  5. grigor sargsyan Says:
    May 8, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    Observer, why don’t you get rid of my comment. It has no reason to be there anymore. :)

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