Parliament bomb alert: Suspicious device found near visitors entrance

Areas around Parliament were closed off for a shot period on Thursday

The Houses of Parliament in Westminster, central London ( CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

A section of the Houses of Parliament was evacuated on Thursday, after a suspicious device was found near a visitors’ entrance.

The busy roads outside the Palace of Westminster in central London, near the residence of Prime Minister David Cameron at 10, Downing Street, were cordoned off during the security alert.

The police also closed off part of New Palace Yard near the Big Ben clock tower inside the estate, the Telegraph reported.

During the incident, officers told MPs and others close to the evacuated area to stop using their mobile phones “for [their] own safety,” the newspaper reported.

The alert was triggered after an X-ray machine operator at the visitors’ entrance appeared to show a mobile phone wired to a drinks bottle.

The alert been since been called off after specialist officers were called to the scene, and found that the phone was not attached to the bottle and posed no danger.

“It has been stood down,” a police spokeswoman said of the alert.