D
Duke
Guest
Milenko Kindl
LONDON - Police mounted increased patrols in a jittery London Saturday
as detectives conducted an intense hunt for a man seen running from an
explosives-packed car in the heart of the city's entertainment
district.
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Two Mercedes loaded with gasoline, gas canisters and nails were found
abandoned Friday in what police believe was an attempt to kill scores
or even hundreds of people. Detectives said they were keeping an open
mind about the perpetrators, but terrorism experts said the signs
pointed to an al-Qaida-linked or inspired cell.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was briefed on the investigation and the
security threat by counterterrorism officers at Scotland Yard on
Saturday, the prime minister's office said.
Police would not comment on a report by ABC News in the United States
that police had a "crystal clear" picture of one suspect from CCTV
footage.
Forensics experts were searching the two cars for clues. One was
abandoned outside a nightclub in Haymarket, a busy street of shops,
clubs and restaurants just yards from Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly
Circus.
The other was towed after being parked illegally in nearby ****spur
Street and was discovered in an impound lot about a mile away in Park
Lane, near Hyde Park.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, the Metropolitan Police
anti-terrorism chief, said the two devices could have caused
"significant injury or loss of life."
"The discovery of what appears to be a second bomb is obviously
troubling, and reinforces the need for the public to be alert," he
said.
The plot rattled London a week before the second anniversary of the
July 7 suicide bombings that killed 52 commuters on the city's transit
system, and two days after Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime
minister.
"London on the Edge" said the front page headline in The Independent
newspaper on Saturday, while the Daily Mail asked, "Where's the Next
Bomb?"
Brown urged people to be alert, saying Britain faced "a serious and
continuous security threat."
The Times newspaper reported that police had distributed a document to
nightclubs two weeks ago warning of the threat from "vehicle-borne
explosive devices" - car bombs. The document, prepared by the National
Counterterrorism Security Office, took the form of general
counterterrorism advice for British clubs.
The government's crisis committee, code-named COBRA, was due to meet
Saturday and police said they were strengthening patrols in the city
to reassure the public.
Tens of thousands of people were expected to march through central
London later Saturday in the city's annual Gay Pride parade, which
ends at Trafalgar Square.
Terrorism experts said the improvised devices discovered Friday were
similar to ones used by homegrown terror cells - much like the bombs
used in the July 7 attacks - although the discovery of the second
device suggested a coordinated and more sophisticated attack.
Intelligence officials were examining a post on an Islamist Web site
hours before the cars were found suggesting Britain would be attacked
for awarding a knighthood to novelist Salman Rushdie and for
intervening in Muslim countries.
The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web
sites, said a post on the al-Hesbah forum asked, "Is London craving
explosions from al-Qaida?" and added: "I say the good news, by Allah,
London will be hit."
SITE said the message had been posted to an unmoderated, public
section of the forum, and its relationship, if any, to the car bombs
could not be verified.
The first bomb was discovered after ambulance crews were called to
Haymarket to treat a man injured in a fall at 1:30 a.m. Friday. When
crews arrived, they noticed smoke coming from a green Mercedes parked
in front of a club, Clarke said.
Photographs showed a canister bearing the words "patio gas,"
indicating it was propane, next to the car. The back door was open
with blankets spilling out. The car was removed from the scene after a
bomb squad disabled the explosives.
Sky News television reported that a police officer seized a telephone
from the first car - believed to have been a potential detonator - and
an American lawmaker briefed on the investigation confirmed British
authorities had found a cell phone.
"They found a cell phone, and it was going to be used to detonate the
bomb," Congressman Peter King, a Republican representing New York.
Police would not comment on the claim.
Around 3:30 a.m., a second car parked on nearby ****spur Street, which
runs between Haymarket and Trafalgar Square, was ticketed and then
towed to a lot on Park Lane, Clarke said. Police closed off Park Lane,
reportedly after attendants smelled gasoline.
Clarke said police were examining footage from closed-circuit TV
cameras, hoping the surveillance network in central London would help
them track down the drivers of the Mercedes.
The CCTV footage will be compared with license plate recognition
software, he said.
There had been no prior intelligence of planned al-Qaida attacks, a
British government official told The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
A British security official said the domestic spy agency MI5 would
examine possible connections between the bomb attempt and at least two
similar foiled plots - to attack a London nightclub in 2004, and to
pack limousines with gas canisters and shrapnel.
In the 2004 plot, accused members of an al-Qaida-linked terror cell
were convicted of plotting to blow up the Ministry of Sound nightclub,
one of London's biggest music venues.
LONDON - Police mounted increased patrols in a jittery London Saturday
as detectives conducted an intense hunt for a man seen running from an
explosives-packed car in the heart of the city's entertainment
district.
ADVERTISEMENT
Two Mercedes loaded with gasoline, gas canisters and nails were found
abandoned Friday in what police believe was an attempt to kill scores
or even hundreds of people. Detectives said they were keeping an open
mind about the perpetrators, but terrorism experts said the signs
pointed to an al-Qaida-linked or inspired cell.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was briefed on the investigation and the
security threat by counterterrorism officers at Scotland Yard on
Saturday, the prime minister's office said.
Police would not comment on a report by ABC News in the United States
that police had a "crystal clear" picture of one suspect from CCTV
footage.
Forensics experts were searching the two cars for clues. One was
abandoned outside a nightclub in Haymarket, a busy street of shops,
clubs and restaurants just yards from Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly
Circus.
The other was towed after being parked illegally in nearby ****spur
Street and was discovered in an impound lot about a mile away in Park
Lane, near Hyde Park.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, the Metropolitan Police
anti-terrorism chief, said the two devices could have caused
"significant injury or loss of life."
"The discovery of what appears to be a second bomb is obviously
troubling, and reinforces the need for the public to be alert," he
said.
The plot rattled London a week before the second anniversary of the
July 7 suicide bombings that killed 52 commuters on the city's transit
system, and two days after Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime
minister.
"London on the Edge" said the front page headline in The Independent
newspaper on Saturday, while the Daily Mail asked, "Where's the Next
Bomb?"
Brown urged people to be alert, saying Britain faced "a serious and
continuous security threat."
The Times newspaper reported that police had distributed a document to
nightclubs two weeks ago warning of the threat from "vehicle-borne
explosive devices" - car bombs. The document, prepared by the National
Counterterrorism Security Office, took the form of general
counterterrorism advice for British clubs.
The government's crisis committee, code-named COBRA, was due to meet
Saturday and police said they were strengthening patrols in the city
to reassure the public.
Tens of thousands of people were expected to march through central
London later Saturday in the city's annual Gay Pride parade, which
ends at Trafalgar Square.
Terrorism experts said the improvised devices discovered Friday were
similar to ones used by homegrown terror cells - much like the bombs
used in the July 7 attacks - although the discovery of the second
device suggested a coordinated and more sophisticated attack.
Intelligence officials were examining a post on an Islamist Web site
hours before the cars were found suggesting Britain would be attacked
for awarding a knighthood to novelist Salman Rushdie and for
intervening in Muslim countries.
The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web
sites, said a post on the al-Hesbah forum asked, "Is London craving
explosions from al-Qaida?" and added: "I say the good news, by Allah,
London will be hit."
SITE said the message had been posted to an unmoderated, public
section of the forum, and its relationship, if any, to the car bombs
could not be verified.
The first bomb was discovered after ambulance crews were called to
Haymarket to treat a man injured in a fall at 1:30 a.m. Friday. When
crews arrived, they noticed smoke coming from a green Mercedes parked
in front of a club, Clarke said.
Photographs showed a canister bearing the words "patio gas,"
indicating it was propane, next to the car. The back door was open
with blankets spilling out. The car was removed from the scene after a
bomb squad disabled the explosives.
Sky News television reported that a police officer seized a telephone
from the first car - believed to have been a potential detonator - and
an American lawmaker briefed on the investigation confirmed British
authorities had found a cell phone.
"They found a cell phone, and it was going to be used to detonate the
bomb," Congressman Peter King, a Republican representing New York.
Police would not comment on the claim.
Around 3:30 a.m., a second car parked on nearby ****spur Street, which
runs between Haymarket and Trafalgar Square, was ticketed and then
towed to a lot on Park Lane, Clarke said. Police closed off Park Lane,
reportedly after attendants smelled gasoline.
Clarke said police were examining footage from closed-circuit TV
cameras, hoping the surveillance network in central London would help
them track down the drivers of the Mercedes.
The CCTV footage will be compared with license plate recognition
software, he said.
There had been no prior intelligence of planned al-Qaida attacks, a
British government official told The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
A British security official said the domestic spy agency MI5 would
examine possible connections between the bomb attempt and at least two
similar foiled plots - to attack a London nightclub in 2004, and to
pack limousines with gas canisters and shrapnel.
In the 2004 plot, accused members of an al-Qaida-linked terror cell
were convicted of plotting to blow up the Ministry of Sound nightclub,
one of London's biggest music venues.
