DELHI: AP and BBC back off initial story of airport shootings (updated)

2nd UPDATE: The BBC has an explanation here for how they mistakenly reported that six gunmen were shot at Delhi's airport:

The BBC initially quoted an incorrect claim from an airport worker that six people had been shot and killed at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

But the Indian authorities have since denied that there was any shooting incident at the airport.

Airline passengers are said to have panicked and mistakenly reported that shots were being fired after two loud noises were heard.

In response to our query, the BBC's Soutik Biswas sent us a couple messages, the first one soon after the incident:

"There were some reports of firing. Not true. Policemen chased a qualis van away. At 1 am passengers say they heard two rounds of firing. But the police saying nothing of happened. It is still unclear whether anything really happened or whether it a false alarm. Its a very environment here in india and people are very skittish."

And later:

"Police saying no evidence of any shots fired, cctv cameras show nobody firing any shots. But even some reporters quoting some security staff saying that they heard two gunshots after midnight. So where did the shots come from?"

Read more about the confusion at Bloomberg News.

Initial Update: We initially posted a breaking news story from AP, citing a BBC report that six gunmen had been shot at the Delhi airport. That story is apparently FALSE. The AP sent out another alert, just now, saying the following:  

[NEW DELHI

(AP) - Police tell AP "minor incident" occurred at  New Delhi airport; no one killed.]

How exactly did the AP/BBC get this story so wrong? We'll post updates if we get any.

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[[[[ORIGINAL (FALSE) STORY - similar one at BBC (later updated to reflect changes).

Breaking news from the AP:

LONDON (AP) - The British Broadcasting Corp. is reporting that six gunmen have been shot and killed by Indian security forces at New Delhi's main international airport.

The report on the BBC Web site Thursday was attributed to airport officials.

Airports in India went on high alert Thursday following fresh warnings of attacks as officials said India suspects two senior leaders of a banned Pakistani militant group orchestrated last week's deadly siege in Mumbai. ]]]]

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