Threat prompts closure of California airports

SAN DIEGO: Authorities evacuated an airport terminal in the US city of San Diego on Tuesday after mistaking children's toys for bomb-making equipment.   

The suspicious package detected in luggage at San Diego International Airport forced the evacuation of a busy commuter terminal for more than one hour, but ultimately turned out to be harmless.   

"It was not bomb-making materials after all," an official in the airport's operations centre said. "It seems to have been toys."   

The terminal was closed for more than an hour before bomb squad officers determined the items were harmless, according to Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin. Screeners saw something that appeared to be suspicious inside a bag and called the San Diego Harbor Police, Peppin said.    

"On the screen it appeared it could have been some sort of IED (improvised explosive device)," Peppin said. While she declined to identify the contents of the bag, Peppin said they were "not anything of concern."   

The scare followed alerts at two other airports in southern California sparked by bomb threats telephoned into John Wayne Airport in Orange County and Long Beach Municipal Airport. Searches were launched after threats were received at both airports, but no harmful devices were found. Long Beach was closed for more than four hours.