Two bombs found and defused in London

[Vanhalen 0]

It seems like we have had the luckiest of lucky escapes today

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6255960.stm

 

Police now say two separate explosive devices have been found in cars parked in London's West End.

 

The first bomb, made of 60 litres of petrol, gas cylinders and nails, was found in a Mercedes outside a nightclub in Haymarket at 0130 BST.

 

Police say the second device was found in a Mercedes in a Park Lane car park after it had been towed away from Cockspur Street, near Trafalgar Square.

 

Both devices were "viable" and "clearly linked", police said.

 

At a news conference on Friday evening, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, said the discovery of the second device was "obviously troubling".

 

"There was a considerable amount of fuel and gas canisters, as in the first vehicle. There was also a substantial quantity of nails," he said.

 

Parking ticket

 

An ambulance crew spotted smoke inside the first, metallic green Mercedes by chance after they were called to the Tiger Tiger night club to help a sick person.

 

Police then defused a bomb inside.

 

The second device was found in a blue 280E model Mercedes. It was given a parking ticket at 0230 BST on Friday after being found illegally parked in Cockspur Street.

 

The vehicle was then towed to the Park Lane car pound about an hour later.

 

The BBC's Daniel Sandford said police were alerted to it after staff who had heard about the Haymarket bomb noticed a strong smell of petrol coming from it.

 

 

It is obvious that if the device had detonated there could have been serious injury or loss of life

DAC Peter Clarke on the first bomb

 

Park Lane was closed for much of the afternoon while bomb squad officers checked the vehicle and was eventually reopened at 1930 BST.

 

The Haymarket area remains closed as dozens of officers carry out forensic searches. The first Mercedes is being tested at the Forensics Explosives Laboratory in Kent and the second has now been towed away for examination.

 

CCTV footage from Haymarket is also being examined and police are believed to be making some progress towards getting an image of the driver.

 

Extra patrols

 

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur urged people to be "alert and vigilant" and report anything suspicious to police.

 

Disruption would be kept to a minimum, he said, although the police were reviewing the safety of big public events taking place in the capital over the weekend.

 

"I want to reassure Londoners that we are doing everything possible to make them safe," he added.

 

Following Friday's discoveries, police patrols in central London were stepped up "to provide a visible reassurance", rather than in response to a specific threat.

 

Officers were visiting licensed premises to reiterate crime prevention and safety advice, said a police spokesman.

 

See map of where device was found

 

"International elements" are believed to have been involved with the Haymarket bomb, Whitehall sources have told the BBC.

 

Police sources said it would have caused "carnage" if it exploded.

 

Nightclubbers

 

Speaking about the first bomb, DAC Clarke said: "It is obvious that if the device had detonated there could have been serious injury or loss of life."

 

The ambulance had been called to the nightclub - where up to 1,700 people were inside - when they spotted what they thought was smoke, now believed to have been vapour released from the petrol.

 

Bomb experts manually disabled the "potentially viable explosive device" in Haymarket.

 

Scotland Yard declined to comment on reports a mobile phone was found in the Mercedes at Haymarket that may have been intended to trigger the explosion.

 

 

INVESTIGATION TIMELINE

0125 London Ambulance Service called to Tiger Tiger club to treat sick person. Crew notice smoke from metallic green Mercedes outside

0200 Police called to investigate suspicious vehicle. Area cordoned off while explosives officers examine vehicle

0230 Blue Mercedes parked illegally in Cockspur Street, near Haymarket

0330 Blue Mercedes taken to car pound in Hyde Park

Police disable "potentially viable" explosive device in green Mercedes. Vehicle contains petrol, gas cylinders and nails

0400 Witness sees police removing gas canisters from green Mercedes

1000 Prime Minister Gordon Brown says country faces "serious threat"

1025 Green Mercedes removed from Haymarket

1030 Government emergency response committee Cobra meets

1430 Park Lane closed off as police investigate second car

2045 Police confirm second car contained bomb material

All times BST

 

Car bomb leads

In pictures: Car bomb

Eyewitness accounts

 

One report claimed a police officer disconnected the mobile phone before bomb squad officers arrived.

 

Mobile phones have been used to detonate bombs in Iraq and Indonesia and in other terror attacks, such as the 2004 Madrid bombings.

 

The car bombs have echoes of other terror plots. Five men were jailed for life in April for a UK bomb plot linked to al-Qaeda that targeted a shopping centre and a nightclub with a giant fertiliser bomb.

 

And Dhiren Barot was jailed for life last November for conspiring to park limousines packed with gas canisters underneath high-profile buildings before detonating them.

 

DAC Clarke said it was too early to say who was responsible but the Haymarket incident "resonated" with previous terror plots.

 

Speaking in Downing Street after meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the new Home Office minister for security, Admiral Sir Alan West, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith urged members of the public to report anything suspicious to the police.

 

Mr Brown said Britain faced "a serious and continuous threat" and the public "need to be alert" at all times.

 

The BBC's Andy Tighe said the timing of the car bombs was significant coming a day after Mr Brown became prime minister, and with the second anniversary of the 7 July bombings approaching.

 

The current terror threat level has been classed severe - one level lower than the highest "critical" - since 14 August 2006.

 

Intelligence sources said they were keeping an open mind as to who was responsible for the car bombs.

[Guest Vitamin X]

It always seems that London is under a more continuous terrorist threat than anywhere in the U.S.. That's gotta be frightening there.

 

Someone doesn't like Gordon Brown!

[Jingus 0]

Well, they're a lot closer to their enemies, geographically speaking, than the US is. Whether it's the Blitz or the IRA or the muslims, poor London always seems to be getting detonated by some group or another of fanatics.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Well, they're a lot closer to their enemies, geographically speaking, than the US is. Whether it's the Blitz or the IRA or the muslims, poor London always seems to be getting detonated by some group or another of fanatics.

 

Lately London has been the victim of several incompetent terrorists though.

 

2 weeks after the 7/7 bombings, another group tried to stage 4 suicide bombings on london trains and buses. However, not one of the bombs managed to go off correctly (only the detonators of the bombs exploded )and thnakfully no one was hurt. Apparently,once the smoke on one of the wannabe suicide bombers bus had cleared, the other passengers noted he looked "very dismayed". Five men now await sentencing for attempted murder and conspiracy.

 

Now, the police speculate that the first car bombing failed because the guy either "bottled it" or couldn't set it off and panicked.

 

I think it's because Britain breeds a lot of homegrown terrorists who, unlike their counterparts in the middle east, don't really know what they're doing.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

this is gonna sound very self-centered (probably because it is)... but i'm going to london in a few days. Any news of new travel restrictions???

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Also, you'll have heard, 2 terrorists drove a burning jeep into Glasgow airport (they got a little past the door)in what officials believe is an attack linked with yesterday's attempted bomings.

 

A passerby injured his leg in the attack but that was the only casualty, fortunately. In fact the one person who was seriously injured was one of the terrorists, currently in hospital with severe burns. Both men have been arrested.

 

 

 

See, what I mean about us having the most useless terrorists? Jack Bauer could deal with these idiots in his lunch break.

 

In respone to the above post: the airport security will be high, obviously. But you might be okay.

[2GOLD 0]

this is gonna sound very self-centered (probably because it is)... but i'm going to london in a few days. Any news of new travel restrictions???

 

I think it's just going to be really tight but it seems like more of the focus is on Scotland at the moment.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

THANKS TONY!

[Guest cutch]

The Airport Worker who attacked the suicide bomber at Glasgow airport and basically beat him up has become something of a national hero in Scotland ------> John Smeaton

[k thx 0]

Saturday could be interesting in London.

 

Tour de France starts

Live Earth

Anniversary of London bomb attacks

 

 

[Murmuring Beast 0]

John Smeaton is a legend.

 

'I wiz havin a fag...he wiz shoutin' in Arabic....shoutin 'Allah'...'Allah'...it was like, ventin'....he was head to toe in flames'

 

Brilliant.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

6 out of the 8 suspects arrested are doctors who immigrated over here, and the other two are connected to the NHS.

 

This is surprising as you can imagine. One theory is that Al-Qaida know that Britain, because of the shortage of homegrown doctors, have been recruiting fro all over the world. So, they're using it as a way to sneak in extremists.

[Guest benoitwasmurdered]

This was Micheal Moore's fault!

 

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Conservative...chael_0702.html

[Guest Vitamin X]

More London mayhem!

 

Subway train derails in east London

LONDON (AP) — A subway train derailed in east London during morning rush hour Thursday, injuring a few dozen commuters, officials said.

 

About 900 passengers — many covered in dust thrown up during the accident — were evacuated after the westbound Central Line train derailed between the Bethnal Green and Mile End stations, police said.

 

Paramedics treated 37 people at the scene for mostly minor injuries, 11 of whom were hospitalized. Two trains were involved, the one that derailed and another that stalled behind it.

 

The cause of the accident was under investigation. The driver said he saw something white flapping in the tunnel, possibly some sort of sheeting, before the train collided with it, London's transport department said in a statement.

 

There was a loud noise and the driver hit the brakes, coming to a stop about 800 feet from an unidentified obstruction and the two front sets of wheels derailed, the statement said.

 

The westbound train seemed to lift up as it rounded a corner at Bethnal Green, said passenger Jacqui McElroy, who was in the front car.

 

"It started to rock unbelievably, really violently, the carriage filled with smoke and we could see sparks and there was a smell of electrical burning as the driver was braking," the 34-year-old makeup artist.

 

"Obviously the first thing that goes through your mind is 'Is it terrorists?'" she said.

 

Londoners are on edge less than a week after three failed bomb attacks in the country — two in the capital and one at Glasgow's airport in Scotland. British authorities are also on high alert before the second anniversary of the London suicide bombings that killed 52 people on July 7, 2005.

 

Scores of police officers were sent to the scene of Thursday's derailment as a precaution, along with 14 fire trucks and seven ambulances.

 

The train remained upright and passengers walked out of the tunnel, police said.

 

Union officials said that subway workers had repeatedly raised safety concerns that contractors working in the area where the derailment occurred were not properly storing equipment.

Courtesy of USA Today.