Bomb alert forces evacuation of Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower and its immediate surroundings in Paris were evacuated on Friday after an anonymous caller phoned in a bomb threat, local media reported.On Friday afternoon police received a call around 5:00 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) from a man presenting himself as a member of al-Qaeda reporting a package bomb, the local broadcaster Europe1 said in its report.French police forced 2,000 visitors to quit the tower for more than an hour but they did not find bombs as described by the phone call.In 1995, two explosions taking place at Paris metro and in an ashbin near the Triumphal Arch had caused several casualties.Paris has been harassed by a series of emergent operations due to bomb alerts since 2010, including two fake bomb alerts on the Eiffel Tower within two weeks in September, another bomb alerts triggering chaos and evacuation at the Champs-Elysees Avenue and a central railway station of the Saint-Michel.The 324-meter icon tower that was built in 1889 is one of the world's most popular tourist attractions.