London car bomb could have caused 'carnage' (3rd Roundup)

UK News

Jun 29, 2007, 16:03 GMT

London - British police Friday foiled a massive car bomb attack in the heart of London that could have caused 'significant loss of life' just days before the second anniversary of the major suicide attacks of July 7, 2005. British police and forensic officers cordon off The Haymarket in central London after a explosive device was found in a Mercedes vehicle, 29 June 2007. EPA/ANDY RAIN

British police and forensic officers cordon off The Haymarket in central London after a explosive device was found in a Mercedes vehicle, 29 June 2007. EPA/ANDY RAINGovernment sources said the police and intelligence services were investigating a possible international link, and similarities to car bombs used by insurgents in Iraq. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting, said Britain was currently facing 'the most serious and sustained threat.' The counter-intelligence service MI5 warned Friday that further attacks were 'highly likely' and that alert levels would remain at 'severe,' the second-highest level. Security experts said the timing of the planned attack suggested that it could be linked to the change of government in Britain this week, coming on the second day after Gordon Brown took over office from Tony Blair. The attackers would have wanted to give a 'warning' to Brown to change British policy in Iraq. Conservative Homeland security expert Patrick Mercer said the government had been warned that 'this would be a difficult week.' Brown, saying that Britain remained under 'serious and continued threat from terrorism,' urged the public to remain vigilant 'over the next few days.' Scotland Yard anti-terrorism chief Peter Clarke said the vehicle- born device would have caused 'significant injury or loss of life' if it had gone off early Friday morning. 'At that hour on a Friday morning, many, many people were leaving nightclubs and other places after an evening out,' Clarke said. The device had been 'manually disabled' by officers called to the scene at Haymarket, one of London's major tourists centres where theatres, clubs, bars and restaurants are located. Police sources said up to 60 litres of petrol in several large containers, gas cylinders and a 'large number of nails' were recovered from the Mercedes car, parked outside a nightclub. Later Friday, police cordoned off London's central Hyde Park searching a suspect car in an underground car park, amid fears that devices could have been planted in other parts of the city. But Scotland Yard said later the two incidents were not linked. Brown Friday called an emergency meeting of the government crisis committee, Cobra. 'I will stress to the cabinet that the vigilance must be maintained over the next few days,' he said, in a clear reference to the upcoming anniversary of the 2005 attacks, in which 52 people died and more than 700 were injured. The suspect car was spotted by an ambulance crew which had been called to the Tiger Tiger nightclub in the Haymarket, near Piccadilly, at around 2 am local time (0100 GMT) to assist a person, Clarke said. They raised the alarm after seeing 'smoke' emerging from the light-green Mercedes saloon car, he added. It was not clear whether the nightclub was a target, said Clarke. He had a 'completely open mind' as to who was behind the attack, the anti-terrorism chief said. Earlier this month, a court in London sentenced seven men, said to have links with al-Qaeda, who the court heard had planned to use explosives-packed limousines for attacks in Britain. Among their targets would have been nightclubs with 'all those slags dancing around,' according to taped evidence presented to the court. 'The device was almost ready to go, it was primed in a manner to be detonated shortly,' said a BBC correspondent, quoting police sources, about Friday's attempted attack. 'This was foiled totally by chance,' he added. An unconfirmed report said the device was to be ignited by mobile phone trigger. Security experts said it was the first time that a so-called vehicle-born improvised device (VBIED) would have been used in an attack in London. 'This is significant. These are the tactics of Iraq coming to the streets of Britain,' said the BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner. Other experts said the fact that the devices were improvised was also an 'al-Qaeda' hallmark. Brown was informed of the bomb when he woke up, said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, adding that the new British leader was an 'early riser.' It was revealed later that 'enhanced security measures' had been put in place at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster in the wake of the incident. Sources said there could also be a connection with the expected sentencing next week in the trial of four suspects accused of planning a follow-up attack on tubes and buses in London on July 21, 2005. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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MI6 MUST BE BUSY MAKING BOMBSJun 29th, 2007 - 21:01:11

No bad person could be that good tolet the London police find out their second bomb.

SO MOST LIKELY IT IS THEIR MI6.

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RamoneJun 29th, 2007 - 21:27:55

Haha.. they ticketed and then towed the vehicle away before anyone realised it was a car bomb! So clearly not triggered by anti-tamper circuitry.

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Gum FaceJun 29th, 2007 - 21:50:50

Calling all apologists. Start apologising now for these interventions that prevent the terrorist atrocities coming to pass, which wastes terrorist time and resources.

I prefer that the police shoot a few of the wrong people than let the terrorists kill may more. I don't wish to be one of those shot, but I don't wish to be blown up either.

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-Jun 29th, 2007 - 22:03:41

'
I prefer that the police shoot a few of the wrong people than let the terrorists kill may more.'

I would prefer that the police shoot a few of the right people instead of letting the government and the PC ninnies let them go.

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SilencedJun 29th, 2007 - 22:14:57

That's true - we are being attacked by a religion, whose members believe that others should join or die.

And all we are allowed to say is that this is a religion of “PEACE”.

This in itself is an act of Islamization - the thoughtless submission to otherwise irrational beliefs.

Here’s one - freeze Islamic immigration.
We are getting sick of this.

There are lots of people in the world who would love to come to Europe, to work for a better life –

We have to be more selective - as we are getting burnt by our generosity toward Islam.

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Be Kind To Terrorists ->Jun 29th, 2007 - 22:58:47

Hey, when we catch them - we'll put them under house arrest.

You know - we must make sure that the terrorists’ civil liberties aren't violated – even above our very own security!

LOL

Then they can just put on their wife’s burqa, and vanish into thin air.

Maybe someone should tell groups like Human Rights Watch – no humans – no rights, i.e. nothing to watch.

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RealistJun 29th, 2007 - 23:00:45

I don't want to be seen as thinking here but..

Who's the goat that let these freaks into your country.??
What did you think was going to happen.?? DURR !!

Round them up and send them back en masse to what ever shit hole the come
or hail from.

I can see this getting worse before it gets a whole lot more worse.

Stick political correctness right up their arses, do what has got to be done before normal people suffer their crap..

The left wing do gooders who think that thses muslims are poor bugger me's have alot to answer for here.
Send those appeasing kowtowing fools with them too.

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KinanahJun 29th, 2007 - 23:28:34

Britain, how are you enjoying your multicultural policy now? The great tumor of Islam is within you.
Only Islam creates Jihadists & they're responsible for more than 8,600 terrorist attacks in over 60 countries since 911 (www.thereligionofpeace.com documents them all).
You have opened your hearts & borders to Islam and it has brought you terrorism; big surprise!
People will read this & cry out: 'But most Muslims are peaceful!'
That may be true but the peaceful ones are NOT being true to their 'prophet', who said: 'there is no such deed as equals Jihad in reward.'(Bukhari:V4B52N44)
So the Muslims among you, peaceful or not, represent this murderous dogma, you see. You need to speak out against mosques in your towns because their scriptures command KILLING THE REST OF US, or you can wait around & see whether they obey them or not!

People of Britain, simple fact: keep tolerating Islam & your next generation of grandchildren will suffer under sharia law & pay the Jizya tax!

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juhaJun 30th, 2007 - 01:31:46

yep......they cant opperate as freely in a free society as within a deluded paranoid society. They dont like our freedom our free speech...if ya dont like it get the hell out. and by we will get the hell out of your country and you can stew in your own juices of religious fever.

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IT COULD HAVE CAUSED CARNAGE! YESJun 30th, 2007 - 02:43:38

BUT ONLY IF THE BOMBERS WANTED TO CAUSE IT!

This was just an excercise to scare Brown, to continue fighting in Iraq.

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