KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — Police deployed a bomb squad to a popular shopping mall here today after the management reported the discovery of two backpacks left unattended on the second level.

According to Dang Wangi district police chief Asst Comm Zainol Samah, the bomb disposal unit arrived at the mall in the Bukit Bintang area around 1pm and proceeded to inspect the bags, which were found to contain clothes.

“The bags’ owners were South Korean tourists who arrived on January 11. They had left their bags there to go shopping,” he said in a statement today.

Zainol said the tourists were released after they explained the incident satisfactorily to the police.

He also denied that the mall had been evacuated due to the bomb scare.

Police in Kuala Lumpur have been on red alert since Jakarta, Indonesia was attacked by suspected Islamic State militants this week.

The anxiety was compounded this morning when Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor revealed that popular tourist and shopping spots in the Klang Valley were being targeted by terrorists.

Police later denied issuing information about specific locations that were under immediate threat, and urged the public not to spread such information.