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Car bomb could've killed 100s
29/06/2007 15:37 - (SA)
London - Police thwarted an apparent terror attack on Friday near Piccadilly Circus in central London, defusing an explosive car loaded with gasoline, gas canisters, nails and a detonator after an ambulance crew spotted smoke coming from the vehicle.
The explosives were powerful enough to have caused "significant injury or loss of life" - possibly killing hundreds, British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said.
Britain's new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, called an emergency meeting of top officials, calling the attempted attack "international terrorism".
"We are currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism," she told reporters. "This reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant to the threat we face at all times."
Police planned to examine footage from closed-circuit TV cameras in the area, Clarke said, hoping the surveillance network that covers much of central London will help them track down the driver of the rigged Mercedes.
Officers were called to Haymarket, just south of Piccadilly Circus, after an ambulance crew - responding to a call just before 01:30 (00:30GMT) about an injury at a nearby nightclub - noticed smoke coming from a car parked in front of the club, Clarke said.
A bomb squad was called to the scene, and manually disabled the bomb.
The busy Haymarket thoroughfare linking Piccadilly Circus to the Pall Mall is packed with restaurants, bars, a cinema complex and West End theatres, and was buzzing at that hour.
- AP
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