Police find bomb in London, launch terrorism probe
LONDON (Reuters) - British police defused a bomb they
discovered in a parked car in central London on Friday and
launched a counter-terrorism investigation.
Sky News quoted unidentified sources as saying the bomb
was “potentially massive” and that the car contained gas
canisters.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
Expert says that this a completely incompetent, amateur, ineffective effort to make a bomb.
Also, planting something like this in an area plastered with security camera coverage is pretty stupid. And with the car bomb recovered intact, there will be plenty of evidence to collect.
The builders of the bomb found in central London today would have probably been “keen amateurs”, an explosives expert said.
Patio gas cylinders found by police in the light green Mercedes would have been an unlikely weapon for experienced terrorists unless they wanted to create a fireball for the cameras, Sidney Alford, founder of explosives company Alford Technologies, told Guardian Unlimited.
As a readily available combustible material, the propane gas held in such cylinders might be considered by someone unable to source high explosives.
“If you are making a bomb and you are limited in the amount of explosives you can acquire you could easily get some gas cylinders of propane to add to them. They would give a more impressive fireball on TV,” he said.
“They are probably keen amateurs who could not get their hands on the real thing and do not realise the limits of what they are doing.”
The Metropolitan police’s head of anti-terrorism, Peter Clarke, said there was also a “significant quantity” of petrol and nails in the car, as well as the gas. A witness reported nails were lying on the floor of the car, which Mr Alford said was another indication the bomb makers were inexperienced.
“Nails could be considered as an additional way of extending the potential damage and lethal range of the device but putting them on the floor is an incompetent way of building a bomb. They would go straight into the ground,” he said.
Mr Alford said that unless there were also explosives present the main impact of the device would be in the economic disruption caused by closing off the normally bustling shops, restaurants and businesses of central London.
“As the IRA knew, you do not need a real bomb to cause real havoc,” he said.
Police said the “potentially viable explosive device” was made safe. Mr Clarke said that had it exploded there could have been “significant injuries or loss of life”.
It is believed to be unprecedented for gas canisters to be used for a bomb in the UK. They have sometimes been used elsewhere in the world as bomb casings - opened up and packed with explosives - or used for firing mortars. Police said they had yet to examine whether the cylinders contained patio gas as indicated on the label.
Michael Clarke, professor of defence at King’s College London, said whoever was behind the intended attack would have left a lot of evidence at the scene that would help police track them down.
He said security services would be concerned that the bomb may be part of a wider plot, and that there could be other devices planted around the capital.
“They will find out about this very quickly,” he said. “Any car coming into central London would be on a lot of surveillance footage. Also nobody can make a bomb without leaving behind a lot of DNA.” Prof Clarke said it was almost certain the bomb was intended to detonate today.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
whew...glad they foiled this attack.
and it does seem like amateur hacks from what maddie wrote
probably some impressionable punks
they should get public chitrol at the london eye
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
whew... good to hear that they deactivated it on time.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
Alright....All the Pakis who are involved in this ..Come out before they blame any any innocent paki !!
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
^^
Why dont we trace the root cause on why this happened. Maybe their families were beaten up.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
Alright....All the Pakis who are involved in this ..Come out before they blame any any innocent paki !!
The fact you are blaming pakis. Put you head down in shame.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
The fact you are blaming pakis. Put you head down in shame.
I am going with the stats............no facts...no assumptions !!
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
well i think that it was purposely made as an amateur bomb just to scare people. no1's as stupid as to make a bomb like that so obvioucly it was just to alarm people. especially with gordon brown now prime minister. people are bound to do stupid stuff.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
omg! i can’t believe you just said that! even if it was a joke!
don’t go around assuming it’s JUST pakis…it could be somalians.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
Those dang "moslem" terrorist are at it again.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
oh darn it, please fund the war against terrorism
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
Those dang "moslem" terrorist are at it again.
Funny thing is that is probably the first thing that went through people's mind.
Muslims have not done themselves any favors in the past few years. So can't blame the people thinking that way.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
another measly attempt by blair to create public distraction. too much attention spent on gordon coming to power. couldnt have that now could we.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
Explosive material found in second car on London street
Now this will bring some more trouble to muslims in UK
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
right, so transparent too, I mean he could have just had some more killing in darfur or ppl blowing up shia and sunni mosques in iraq to divert people’s attention…
this was too transparent
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
Car Bomb Found in London 20 Days After al Qaeda Suicide Bomber ‘Graduation Ceremony’
The discovery of a massive car bomb set to detonate in central London comes just three weeks after what was described as an al Qaeda graduation ceremony of suicide bomb teams to be dispatched to Europe and the United States.
A videotape obtained by ABC News from a Pakistani journalist shows groups of dozens of men al Qaeda says have gone through a terror training camp somewhere in Pakistan.
Teams of 50 to 60 men were supposedly dispatched to the United States, Canada, Germany and Great Britain.
On the tape, the leader of the British team speaks of the mission in broken English, “Let me say something about why we are going along with my team to tell a suicide attack in Britain.” That was just 20 days ago, and the existence of the tape first reported by ABC News put British and German security experts on edge.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/06/car-bomb-found-.html
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
[QUOTE]
Why dont we trace the root cause on why this happened. Maybe their families were beaten up.
[/QUOTE]
Even if my family did get beaten up the first thing that would pop into my head wouldn't be "well, we'd better go try to hurt some random people in Piccadilly Square." That would be a very infantile reaction (though whoever does these kind of things must be quite infantile -not that the beating up in the first place wouldn't be infantile-, so it shouldn't be put past them), and probably one that would result in even more families getting beaten up.
Its just sad. That's all it is. Its sad that it happens in Iraq. And its sad that its been happening in London. Its sad that it happens at all.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
ah but could he still do these things? you forget hes not a PM anymore, hes an X. and it was an amateur attempt too…the guy seems to have a real motive deegeh. why cant you see that.
Re: Terror attack stopped in London; Bomb found, defused.
Far greater chance it is some British born Pakistani than it is Tony Blair. Sorry but that's the reality.