Hyde Park cleared over suspicious car
By Natalie Paris, Duncan Hooper and agencies
29/06/2007
Telegraph
Police are investigating a car near Hyde Park amid fears that it may be connected to a bomb defused by authorities hours earlier in London's West End.
The car bomb was parked near Piccadilly Circus
The eastern side of Hyde Park was evacuated after Park Lane, which borders the park, was closed between Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner at 2.30 this afternoon, while a police robot investigated the car.
A 200m cordon was put in place, cutting off one of London's major transport arteries and causing further traffic chaos, after reports of the suspicious vehicle.
The dramatic new development came after an explosive device, consisting of gas cylinders and nails, was found outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub at 2am in The Haymarket, near Piccadilly Circus, in the heart of London's tourist district.
Jacqui Smith, the new Home Secretary, called an emergency meeting of top officials this morning, calling the attempted attack "international terrorism."
She said: "We are currently facing the most severe and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism.
"This latest incident reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant and alert to the threat we face at all times.
Similarities between the car bomb and Iraqi bomb plots have been highlighted by a British security official, according to the Associated Press.
Head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, Peter Clarke, said police were alerted to a silver Mercedes car by an ambulance crew who noticed smoke inside it. The crew had been called to the scene just before 1.30am for an injury at a nearby nightclub.
Officers inspecting the car found 60 litres of petrol on the back seat, gas cylinders and containers holding nails inside, which could have caused "significant injury or loss of life". The bomb was defused.
A witness said the large silver saloon car was being driven "erratically" before crashing into bins and that the driver then ran off.
Mr Clarke said that some aspects of today's bomb attempt "resonated with previous plots" and mentioned nightclubs as a potential target.
But he also said detectives are keeping "an entirely open mind" as to who is responsible and called on the public to remain vigilant.
Police have removed the car from the scene and are studying CCTV footage for clues.
The immediate area has been cordoned off causing huge disruption and police said it will remain closed for some time. Oxford Street and Marble Arch are also closed, according to reports. However, Piccadilly Circus Underground station has reopened.
Where the device was found in the West End
The Associated Press reported an anonymous official saying MI5 would examine possible connections between the incident and at least two similar foiled plots.
One of these is the thwarted attempt to use limousines packed with gas canisters to attack targets in London and New York.
Dhiren Barot and members of his gang were jailed for a combined total of 136 years for the plot earlier this month.
A Whitehall source reportedly said: "It is entirely possible. There are various things - it is outside a nightclub, it is a vehicle-borne device, it is close to the anniversary of the July 7 attacks."
Britain's security service MI5 currently determines the threat level for terrorism in the UK as severe - the second highest in the scale.
It has been set as such since August 14 last year and means an attack is "highly likely" with "a continuing high level of threat to the UK".
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the incident reminds us that Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and the public "need to be alert" at all times.
A police source said: "The indications that we have got so far are that it was certainly a big device."
But a Westminster source said the device was believed to be relatively small and made of some type of home-made explosive.
The source said police carried out a search of other key areas in the capital in the early hours of this morning after the Haymarket incident was discovered.
Timeline: Terror plots in London
By Felix Lowe
29/06/2007
29 June 2007: A car bomb, consisting of gas cylinders and nails and designed to cause 'carnage', is discovered and difused outside a packed nightclub in The Haymarket.
May 2007: Five men – led by Omar Khyam and dubbed the “fertiliser bomb plotters” – were jailed for planning explosions at a range of locations including the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London.
21 July 2005: The failed July 21 attacks involved rucksack bombs carried by individuals intent on repeating the recent carnage of July 7.
7 July 2005: Four British Muslim suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 bus and subway passengers in a series of synchronised attacks at Aldgate, Russel Square, Edgware Road and Tavistock Square.
August 2004: British al-Qa'eda terrorist Dhiren Barot arrested along with six other plotters after police foiled plans which included a gas attack on the Heathrow Express, a tube explosion under the Thames, a radioactive “dirty bomb” and the notorious “gas limos project”, in which three stretch limousines would be packed with explosives, left in underground car parks and detonated in a series of synchronised blasts.
March 2001: An IRA taxi bomb exploded outside the BBC Television Centre. Two months later a bomb blew up a north London postal sorting office.
April 1999: Over three successive weekends, nail-bomber, David Copeland planted bombs in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho, targetting the black, Bengali and gay communities.
Feb 1996: Docklands bomb killed two people and ended IRA ceasefire. Three weeks later three people died, including Edward O'Brien, the IRA operative transporting the device, when a bomb blast destroyed a double-decker bus in the West End.
July 1994: A Middle Eastern terrorist group detonated a large car bomb outside the Israeli Embassy in London, injuring 20 people.
April 1993: IRA bomb near Liverpool Street devastated the City of London, killing one and injuring more than 40.
October 1992: One person died after IRA device blew up in a pub in Covent Garden.
December 1983: Six people killed and 90 wounded when an IRA bomb ripped through Harrods department store in the week before Christmas.
July 1982: Double explosions in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park by the IRA killed 11 soldiers and seven horses.
October 1981: An explosion on Ebury Bridge Road killed two people and injured 39.
telegraph.co.uk
By Natalie Paris, Duncan Hooper and agencies
29/06/2007
Telegraph
Police are investigating a car near Hyde Park amid fears that it may be connected to a bomb defused by authorities hours earlier in London's West End.
The car bomb was parked near Piccadilly Circus
The eastern side of Hyde Park was evacuated after Park Lane, which borders the park, was closed between Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner at 2.30 this afternoon, while a police robot investigated the car.
A 200m cordon was put in place, cutting off one of London's major transport arteries and causing further traffic chaos, after reports of the suspicious vehicle.
The dramatic new development came after an explosive device, consisting of gas cylinders and nails, was found outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub at 2am in The Haymarket, near Piccadilly Circus, in the heart of London's tourist district.
Jacqui Smith, the new Home Secretary, called an emergency meeting of top officials this morning, calling the attempted attack "international terrorism."
She said: "We are currently facing the most severe and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism.
"This latest incident reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant and alert to the threat we face at all times.
Similarities between the car bomb and Iraqi bomb plots have been highlighted by a British security official, according to the Associated Press.
Head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, Peter Clarke, said police were alerted to a silver Mercedes car by an ambulance crew who noticed smoke inside it. The crew had been called to the scene just before 1.30am for an injury at a nearby nightclub.
Officers inspecting the car found 60 litres of petrol on the back seat, gas cylinders and containers holding nails inside, which could have caused "significant injury or loss of life". The bomb was defused.
A witness said the large silver saloon car was being driven "erratically" before crashing into bins and that the driver then ran off.
Mr Clarke said that some aspects of today's bomb attempt "resonated with previous plots" and mentioned nightclubs as a potential target.
But he also said detectives are keeping "an entirely open mind" as to who is responsible and called on the public to remain vigilant.
Police have removed the car from the scene and are studying CCTV footage for clues.
The immediate area has been cordoned off causing huge disruption and police said it will remain closed for some time. Oxford Street and Marble Arch are also closed, according to reports. However, Piccadilly Circus Underground station has reopened.
Where the device was found in the West End
The Associated Press reported an anonymous official saying MI5 would examine possible connections between the incident and at least two similar foiled plots.
One of these is the thwarted attempt to use limousines packed with gas canisters to attack targets in London and New York.
Dhiren Barot and members of his gang were jailed for a combined total of 136 years for the plot earlier this month.
A Whitehall source reportedly said: "It is entirely possible. There are various things - it is outside a nightclub, it is a vehicle-borne device, it is close to the anniversary of the July 7 attacks."
Britain's security service MI5 currently determines the threat level for terrorism in the UK as severe - the second highest in the scale.
It has been set as such since August 14 last year and means an attack is "highly likely" with "a continuing high level of threat to the UK".
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the incident reminds us that Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and the public "need to be alert" at all times.
A police source said: "The indications that we have got so far are that it was certainly a big device."
But a Westminster source said the device was believed to be relatively small and made of some type of home-made explosive.
The source said police carried out a search of other key areas in the capital in the early hours of this morning after the Haymarket incident was discovered.
Timeline: Terror plots in London
By Felix Lowe
29/06/2007
29 June 2007: A car bomb, consisting of gas cylinders and nails and designed to cause 'carnage', is discovered and difused outside a packed nightclub in The Haymarket.
May 2007: Five men – led by Omar Khyam and dubbed the “fertiliser bomb plotters” – were jailed for planning explosions at a range of locations including the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London.
21 July 2005: The failed July 21 attacks involved rucksack bombs carried by individuals intent on repeating the recent carnage of July 7.
7 July 2005: Four British Muslim suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 bus and subway passengers in a series of synchronised attacks at Aldgate, Russel Square, Edgware Road and Tavistock Square.
August 2004: British al-Qa'eda terrorist Dhiren Barot arrested along with six other plotters after police foiled plans which included a gas attack on the Heathrow Express, a tube explosion under the Thames, a radioactive “dirty bomb” and the notorious “gas limos project”, in which three stretch limousines would be packed with explosives, left in underground car parks and detonated in a series of synchronised blasts.
March 2001: An IRA taxi bomb exploded outside the BBC Television Centre. Two months later a bomb blew up a north London postal sorting office.
April 1999: Over three successive weekends, nail-bomber, David Copeland planted bombs in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho, targetting the black, Bengali and gay communities.
Feb 1996: Docklands bomb killed two people and ended IRA ceasefire. Three weeks later three people died, including Edward O'Brien, the IRA operative transporting the device, when a bomb blast destroyed a double-decker bus in the West End.
July 1994: A Middle Eastern terrorist group detonated a large car bomb outside the Israeli Embassy in London, injuring 20 people.
April 1993: IRA bomb near Liverpool Street devastated the City of London, killing one and injuring more than 40.
October 1992: One person died after IRA device blew up in a pub in Covent Garden.
December 1983: Six people killed and 90 wounded when an IRA bomb ripped through Harrods department store in the week before Christmas.
July 1982: Double explosions in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park by the IRA killed 11 soldiers and seven horses.
October 1981: An explosion on Ebury Bridge Road killed two people and injured 39.
telegraph.co.uk