Police Diffuse Bomb in Central London

[eefanincan]

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Police in London say they have deactivated a bomb packed with nails and capable of creating huge casualties, raising renewed fears of a terrorist strike almost two years after the city was hit by deadly suicide bombers.

The device, consisting of 200 liters of fuel, gas cylinders and nails linked to a triggering mechanism, was found in a car in Haymarket, in the city's busy nightclub and theater district shortly before 2 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Friday.

British police anti-terror chief Peter Clarke said the explosives would have resulted in significant injury and loss of life had the explosives detonated. (Watch police describe potential blast )

Clarke said police were alerted to the car after an ambulance crew attending an earlier incident noticed a smoke-filled car parked close to the popular "Tiger Tiger" nightclub.

Explosives officers discovered canisters of fuel, gas cylinders and nails attached to a "potential means of detonation," inside the vehicle. Officers on the scene "courageously" disabled the trigger by hand, he said.

Earlier, security sources told CNN that the "relatively crude device" contained at least 200 liters, or about 50 gallons, of fuel in canisters.

"Even at this stage it is obvious that if the device had detonated, there could have been severe injuries and loss of life," Clarke said.

He said it was too early to say who was responsible, but police were examining footage from London's unparalelled mesh of CCTV cameras for clues.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, appointed just two days earlier in a transition of power seen as a potential spur for extremists to mount an attack, said the incident was a reminder of the dangers facing the country.

Brown, whose predecessor Tony Blair's support for the war stoked anger among Islamic militants, said Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and the public "need to be alert" at all times.

The incident comes close to the second anniversary of July 7, 2005, when four Islamic extremist suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport system in the deadliest strike on the city since World War II.

'Rude awakening'
CNN International Security Correspondent Paula Newton said it was potentially aimed at theatergoers or nightclubbers, echoing plots recently thwarted by anti-terror police in which Islamic militants intended to attack prominent dance venues and shopping malls.

London has a long history of bomb attacks and alerts during decades of violence mounted by Northern Irish guerrilla groups. Lone attackers have also previously targeted the city's gay and immigrant communities.

Friday's incident could prove to be the first major test for new Prime Minister Brown, a former finance minister, who has only just appointed his cabinet, including new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, in charge of domestic security.

"For Gordon Brown it is a rude awakening to the realities you take on as prime minister," CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said. (Watch Oakley on "rude awakening" for Brown )

Smith Friday attended a meeting of Britain's so-called Cobra emergency committee -- consisting of intelligence and security chiefs -- and was later expected to brief Brown's cabinet.

"As the police and security services have frequently said we face one of the most serious and sustained threats to our security at the moment," Smith told reporters.

A large area around the scene of the discovery remained cordoned off Friday and the nearby Piccadilly underground train station was closed, bringing gridlock to the city's busy commerical district.

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Will this kind of stuff never end?

[faceless]

What sticks out for me is that they were using a Mercedes. Seems an odd choice to make. Why not a van? I read elsewhere that the car driver ran away from the scene, so I'm sure that footage will be interesting to see if it ever turns up...

[6ULDV8]

From the coverage I have seen thus far I can't decide on who would do this...

My money is on a small time gang who had problems with the nightclub security.
A lot of clubs in london use security that are pretty much run by gangs / the 'underground' & there has always been in fighting.

This would account for the use of the Mercedes & the type of "bomb" that was set up.


On the other hand, an extremest group might have used the Mercedes purely in an attempt to have it blend in with the area the car was parked in.


An obvious concern would be 'more of the same'...
As we have no reports of any more cars parked (bombs), I'd tend to go with my first option of gangland related.

[luke]

[Mandy]

Whilst this could be gang-land related, and choice of an old Mercedes is odd (I don't think it would blend in with modern cars in that area, indeed, it would stick out), I can't help thinking Blair/Brown are going to say the terrorist thread hasn't increased because of Iraq, Afghanistan etc, and they will remind us of terrorist acts done before the invasion (e.g. 9/11)

[Skylace]

I'm with Joker on this one for sure. It looks to me like a local thing. But I do also agree that Brown will now try and use this as an excuse for a terrorist threat.

[SpursFan1902]

So, did the bad guys just wait for me to book my flight to the UK to go haywire???

[luke]

jack straw has already called it a 'improvised explosive device' - a term i've only ever heard used when they talk of roadside bombs targeting our troops in iraq ... ( when car bombs explode in iraq they just call them car bombs )

i'm surprised they haven't already tried to blame iran although it seems even the army is wising up to the government/media propaganda - yesterday on bbc when they were talking to some army guy about the 3 british troops who died in iraq, the interviewer asked who they thought was behind the attacks, the army guy said 'i know you are trying to get me to mention a country to the east of here, but that's not the case'

be interesting to see how this develops

[Mandy]

[faceless]

this pic is from the Daily Mail, whose headline on the story reads 'Al Qaeda suspected of 'massive' bomb attack on London nightclub' - it doesn't say who suspects them though, of course...

[Mandy]

[luke]

[Skylace]

[GingerTruck]

they are now saying that there was two car bombs

[Bat]

Well my friends, I think whoever planted these two cars are absolute twats - to park a car in Haymarket and not expect it to be noticed is beyond a joke. As for the other one to have got a parking ticket and then towed away to the local car pound is just plain stupid - not the work of people with a serious mission in mind.

Joker's comments seem to be more on the ball than a "terrorist" attack.

I'm in London now and for the next two months, I'll let you know when (if) I start to worry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!