The arena for the first-round NCAA men's tournament game between Alabama and Marquette, the Cox Arena, was evacuated two hours before tipoff after bomb-sniffing dogs found a suspicious package.
A bomb robot was sent to the scene and the package was removed. Fans were allowed to return about two hours later.
Last week the FBI warned of a recent Internet posting discussing terrorists attacks aimed at college basketball arenas and other sports stadiums.
In the warning the FBI said there was no specific, credible threat of a terror attack aimed at college basketball arenas or other sports stadiums, but acknowledged alerting law enforcement to a recent Internet posting discussing such an attack and noted the bulletin was sent "out of an abundance of caution."
The Associated Press reported the online message described a potential attack in some detail, calling it an efficient way to kill thousands of people using suicide bombers armed with explosives hidden beneath their winter clothing.
Comments