New Delhi:

At least four hospitals in Delhi received bomb threat calls this morning, weeks after several schools in the national capital as well as major Indian cities reported bomb hoax emails.

Delhi State Cancer Institute near the GTB Hospital, Dada Dev Hospital in Dabri, Hedgewar Hospital, and Deep Chandra Bandhu Hospital have received bomb threat calls, the Delhi Fire Department said. The calls are being verified, said the Fire department.

A spate of bomb hoaxes have been reported in the past weeks – at a time when security has been heightened across the country in view of the ongoing elections.

Nearly 100 schools in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) received hoax bomb emails on May 1, triggering panic among the school administrations and parents.

On May 6, seven schools in Ahmedabad received bomb threats via email. The emails were sent from servers with Russian IP addresses, sources had said. No suspicious material was found during searches by bomb disposal squads.

Similar bomb threat emails were received Sunday at the Delhi airport and several other addresses including major hospitals in the city. The threats were later found to be fake.

Yesterday, four schools in Jaipur received bomb threats via email. The children were immediately sent home and the bomb squad and sniffer dogs were deployed.