Second Car Bomb Discovered In London

First Device Disarmed In Theater District; Another Explosive Device Found In Second Car

(CBS/AP)  A second car bomb was discovered in central London, police said Friday, hours after defusing an explosive device found in a Mercedes car parked outside a busy nightclub.

London was in a state of lockdown Friday after police located the first device in the tourist epicenter of the city, and began a search of the city's tourist landmarks for others. Hours later, they found one, near Hyde Park.

CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports the second car had originally been parked around the corner from the nightclub — it had been ticketed and towed overnight, a mile and a half away, to Park Lane, where the smell of gas fumes raised suspicion. It's clearly linked, police said, to the first car bomb.

British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said the bomb discovered in London's West End could have caused "significant injury or loss of life" had it exploded.

"The [second] vehicle was found to contain very similar materials to those that had been found in the first car," Clarke said. "There was a considerable amount of fuel and gas canisters. As in the first vehicle, there was also a quantity of nails. This, like the first device, was potentially viable."

However, sources have told CBS News that it is still too early to know if the plot is connected to al Qaeda or is limited to homegrown U.K. terrorists. Sources said the bombs found were not "amateurish."

Britain's new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, summoned top officials for an emergency meeting Friday, calling the attempted attack "international terrorism."

Hours later, police closed a major road on the edge of Hyde Park, and began clearing people out of the area following reports of a suspicious vehicle.

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Was the London bomb plot heralded on the Web?
CBSNews.com's Tucker Reals reports on posts in Internet forums made the night before.

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Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said "our overriding objective is to protect, put in place cordons, and make sure areas are properly searched."

He said police were "reviewing plans" for events scheduled in London during the weekend.

"We are currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism," Smith told reporters after the emergency meeting. "This reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant to the threat we face at all times."

Clarke said the car bomb was discovered after an ambulance crew was called to a nearby nightclub at about 1 a.m. because someone had taken ill inside. The crew noticed the car parked outside the Tiger Tiger Club and what appeared to be smoke inside the passenger area.

Police were called and explosives officers dismantled the device by hand.

"All I kept thinking was, thank God, there must be an angel on my shoulders," one woman said, "because if that had gone off — glass, everything — we wouldn't have been alive today.

Clarke commended the bravery of the bomb squad and said they had not only prevented possible damage and injury, but provided investigators with valuable evidence.

The BBC reported that almost 16 gallons of gasoline were found in the car, and that law enforcement sources said it was possible the device had failed to detonate before it was discovered.

Sky reported that police believed the device was to be detonated remotely by cell phone, and that an explosives officer who arrived early on the scene reached into the car and removed a phone that was part of the trigger system.

The central area of London where the device was found would have been packed with nightclub patrons at that hour of the night. Clarke said it was too early to tell whether the Tiger Tiger nightclub, outside of which the car was found, was the intended target of the plot.

"Forensic staff are still examining the device, but once we know more about it, we'll know more about what type of individuals are behind this," an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the security details, told the Associated Press earlier.

Roth said the investigation caused massive gridlock as police shut down streets around the scene — one of the busiest areas in London, known as Haymarket.

The incident also presented the first crisis for the cabinet of new Prime Minister Gordon Brown, reported Roth.

Brown, who took office on Wednesday, said the incident was a reminder that Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and the "need to be alert."

"I will stress to the Cabinet that the vigilance must be maintained over the next few days," Brown said.

Prof. Michael Clarke of King's College, a British terrorism analyst, told CBS News that the device appeared to be part of an "amateur" plot using a homemade bomb — but a large one. He said the device appeared to be part of a "well-coordinated" plan.

[randalds]

On the President working for you - why don't you just give him a call sarge and let him know "he's using (US Service men)for his thefts, murders and other crimes of his administration." as you always say. While you are at it make a threat. Then we'd have one more of you nut cases under observation.

Posted by speakinup at 11:17 AM : Jun 30, 2007

Oh and BTW, I already have written several emails to the chimp in charge and accused him of being a thief and murderer. i always get the same form letter response that while he disagrees with me he's still glad to read my comments. I have a feeling his official email address if filled with letters like mine everyday. As for threatening him, why give the as*shole that kind of opening? He already knows how I and 70%+ of the American people feel about what a dic*khead he is and he's never sent the FBI after me yet. Sort of a shame as they used to drop around every 5 or 6 years to check in on me and to remind me my security clearance forbids me from certain things, but they haven't been around in quite awhile? I wonder if I offended them somehow? LOL!

What a Maroon you really are! Entertaining though!

[randalds]

Still convinced I never served ? Oh, and by the way, we officers we smart enough to let you THINK you ran the Army.
Posted by speakinup at 11:17 AM : Jun 30, 2007

ROTFLMFAO!!!! Yep I am, because if you ever did serve as an officer and you very fu*cking ignorant to treat your Noncoms the way your describe then at least it would explain why you never were a success as an officer!!!

Article 15 for that comment? Who in the hell are you trying to bullsh*it? It'd be laughed out of any CO's office and either you know that and are lying (a good chance) or you're lying about having ever worn the uniform. I am sort of curious as to why if you went through all the trouble to ask a real vet (or look it up online) and found out what an article 15 was, why they didn't tell you that any Noncom would have laughed his as*s off at you if you ever threatened him with one for one of the longest running ribs in the military! You're so full of shg*it that I can promise you your eyes are deep brown! LOL!

Article 15 for that!!! ROTFLMFAO!!!!

[randalds]

Of course it is not my place really, to say so, however G.W.Bush will be way uip there with Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Adolf, Kublai Khan Idi Amin, and quite a few of others.

He will not be lonely in his exclusive sadistic club.

Is it not past your bed time, even on the west coast.
Your eatery sounds good.


Posted by rheola at 03:05 AM : Jun 30, 2007

He will indeed. He still has some followers though, who I don't think really believe him any longer (except for the right wing religious nuts and they never were rational in the first place), but they're just too pig-headed and/or embarrassed at being conned by him to desert him now. Right now they're somewhere around 18% of the electorate. However someday their grandchildren will never admit that their grandparents where so stupid as to have stuck with Bush to the bitter end...which is coming soon.

Thanks for the complement on my menu! I love to cook! Oh and my bed time is usually my wife's bedtime, because she CLIAMS the sound of the keyboard bothers her even from two rooms away! Scheeesssshhhh!!

;-)

[speakinup]

"History will curse George W. Bush for as long as there is a history to be written. Centuries from now he'll still be looked at with disgust and scorn." RandalDS

More wishful rantings of an ultra-left, 'hind-sight is always 20-20', rosie odonell lovin, socialistic, wish-I-had-done-more-with-my-life, sad, liberal; that feels the oh-poor-me attitude which needs to project its stupid ideas on the public. Go say these things on a soap box in some park. See if 72% gather around you and start agreeing. Your world of liberal bias would come crumbling down around you, once you got ignored, or laughted at. Nah - go ahead and do it from the safty of under your rock.

[speakinup]

"I'm a Sgt! I work for a living" was NEVER said in malice towards an officer stateside, at least not within earshot of a witness, because it bought you an Article 15. We'd wait until some little dipstick like you would step on it, then we'd offer him an article 15 when we knew we had him by the nuts. After the happless idiot signed, we'd instantly remember all those petty offenses you thought you got away with. (does this sound familiar yet?) With that he'd lose seven days pay, get confined to barracks for acouple of days for him to think about his transgressions, and have him pick up cigarette buts for two weeks - if he was lucky. If he was particularily stupid towards authority - like you - he'd lose a grade.

Of course - you had the choice of signing on to the article 15 or taking the courts martial, but that would only make things worse if you were that stupid - because we never offered an Article 15 without knowing we had you by the nuts, and the penalities would just get stiffer when you lost there.

On the President working for you - why don't you just give him a call sarge and let him know "he's using (US Service men)for his thefts, murders and other crimes of his administration." as you always say. While you are at it make a threat. Then we'd have one more of you nut cases under observation.

Still convinced I never served ? Oh, and by the way, we officers we smart enough to let you THINK you ran the Army.

[jctaylor6]

What is the deal with London? Crazy arabs bomb buses, the tube, pack cars with gas cyliners and the KGB kills their agents with radiation in London. Is there a sign saying "all nuts come to London to play"?

[erichsh]

So thismachine, you think that most of the people in the US are sky-father-worshipping nutjobs too? Hey, all religion is the same, right? You go off and prattle about the one isolated terrorist act not committed by a Muslim and shoehorn it into your preposterous all-religion-is-evil worldview. Yet then you go on living your life without fear of attack in this Christian country, now that the (non-religious) Russian threat has been eliminated. Give me a break.

[erichsh]

goheels_15 - my apologies! The sad thing is that probably 15% of this country (and 90% of the moveon.org types) would nod their head up and down in perfect agreement what you wrote in your sarcastic post (it's all Bush's fault, those maniacal, evil Christians, etc.) Your imitation of a liberal was flawless in that one post. Just make sure you don't actually start to think like one lol.

[rheola-2009]

Randalds

Of course it is not my place really, to say so, however G.W.Bush will be way uip there with Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Adolf, Kublai Khan Idi Amin, and quite a few of others.

He will not be lonely in his exclusive sadistic club.

Is it not past your bed time, even on the west coast.
Your eatery sounds good.

[randalds]

"if we were a force for good in the world rather than greed, i doubt we would have to worry about being targeted by kooks."

"i'm thinking our involvement in their part of the world may have just a little more to do with it than our choice of entertainment or our "way of life"."
Posted by ThisMachine at 02:26 AM : Jun 30, 2007

Absolutely spot on.

Posted by rheola at 02:36 AM : Jun 30, 2007

We used to be, at least most of the time, once upon a time. I know it's only been 6+ years, but it seems to be forever ago when we still had some reason to expect at least some respect from the rest of the civilized world, but Bush pis*sed it all away. It takes many years, maybe even a lifetime, to build respect and a reputation, but Bush has proved you can destroy it all in just moments. History will curse George W. Bush for as long as there is a history to be written. Centuries from now he'll still be looked at with disgust and scorn.

[rheola-2009]

"if we were a force for good in the world rather than greed, i doubt we would have to worry about being targeted by kooks."

"i'm thinking our involvement in their part of the world may have just a little more to do with it than our choice of entertainment or our "way of life"."
Posted by ThisMachine at 02:26 AM : Jun 30, 2007

Absolutely spot on.

[thismachine]

endofempire -although your name has a ring of truth to it, your ww2 example is a little off. lot's of folks wisely felt we were vulnerable to attack -from the facist germans. hence the patrols and vigilance on the east coast PRIOR TO ww2. also, in ww2 it was the predominant military power of the developed world (sound familiar?)who went around making excuses for invading other, adjacent, developed countries. neither afghanistan nor iraq, nor even al qaeda fit that description. if we were a force for good in the world rather than greed, i doubt we would have to worry about being targeted by kooks. if you are so scared, i'm definitely not, you should either flee or fight your perceived enemy. also, i don't have any "dirty" work that needs doin' in my name. if it's dirty it shouldn't be done. period. again back to my point of being a force for good, rather than letting large, monied interests (chevron, coca-cola, merck, dow, etc.) be our representatives to people in other parts of the world. i really doubt if any muslims simply want to attack us because they find the jerry springer show or porn offensive. i'm thinking our involvement in their part of the world may have just a little more to do with it than our choice of entertainment or our "way of life".

[endofempire]

Forget history and your damnation will be to repeat it. This is not "Fortress America" any more, and if you Attention-Deficit-Disorder Poster Children had a lick of sense, you would realize that the fact that you can smoke your cigars and drink your adult beverages in peace and relative quiet is the fact that there are men and women doing your dirty work for you, while you cavort in ignorant bliss (CIA, FBI and our Armed Forces). Americans thought this was a fortress in 1941 too and look at the mess we got into that time... We have lost 3.5K in four years in Iraq... We lost over 400K in the same four years.

[randalds]

-i feel perfectly safe from foreign attack and have since the soviet union fell, i don't buy that fear. cigarettes and alcohol kill more people than terrorists.


Posted by ThisMachine at 12:54 AM : Jun 30, 2007

Amen. You're more likely to be bored to death by a bible-beater then to be killed by a terrorist. Though I still contend that really good cigars and really good scotch actually make you healthier, rather then kill you.

[thismachine]

erichsh- don't muslims worship a vengeful sky father god? in the future i'll take care to make certain you grasp their implied inclusion. i forget, was oklahoma city perpetrated by muslims? this is the US, where the founding fathers saw fit, based on their experiences with (gasp!) other christians, to make certain that people could worship, or not worship, middle eastern martyrs killed by rome, desert wandering prophets, obese asians, cows, goats, or any other such nonsense. doing so has helped to diffuse some of that type of religious tension and strife like you might find in a cat-*** recepticle like the middle east. not to worry i place muslims right there in that same category of enemies of peace -any killing in the name of "god" that kills innocent women and children is wrong whether it's in the name of allah, thor, quetzecotl or saint patrick.

[thismachine]

heel_15: you are in denial. it's ridiculous to propose that aversion to an illegal and/or unjust war can be construed helping the enemy. it's an old trick and frankly i'm shocked that you don't have something more intelligent and current to use in your bag of tricks. that was old when the gerrys were using it on their people in the '30's. why not use: "they hate freedom" -after all what good middle easterner doesnt want to be hog tied and told what to do? twisted logic with no deeper consideration is what you're displaying. what life & death situation? -i feel perfectly safe from foreign attack and have since the soviet union fell, i don't buy that fear. cigarettes and alcohol kill more people than terrorists.

[j-whitman]

pwrslm,,, Too dam bad Bush lied about America being safer... HSD is still dysfunctional, respondeers still lack radios, training & medical,,, Our southern border is wide open & Bush has no intention to close it.

[pwrslm]

We are lucky in America.

This has not gotten to us, yet.

But it will.

Just like the 9-11 plotters, there are plenty of muslims acting just normal that they can mingle with while they plot thier dirty deeds.

The strangest thing is that if one is to be a devout muslim, this is the kind of stuff the koran tells them to do.

Its not a question of if it comes here, but what we will do when they really get in a big hit. 9-11 was no that big, if you think about it. NY City has over 8 million people, they only killed a few thousand. Just a drop in the bucket.

[goheels_15]

to erichsh, i'm assuming you could tell i was being sarcastic in my first message, especially if you look at my next one right after the first one. i was absolutely shedding light how it is soooooo friggin easy for liberals to not think about the consequences of their actions and their words when they spew their anti-american ***. the problem is we dont live in a bubble where their nonsense is only heard by other nutjobs here in america. unfortunately their bile is spread all over the world and on al-jazeera so they can tell the extremists "see, even most americans know bush is corrupt and just wants our oil." if this wasnt such a life and death situation going on it would actually be funny with how nutty bush derangement syndrome has made these people....unfortunately its all too serious though. maybe one day these idiots will realize the damage they cause and will simply keep their tin-foil-hat opinions to themselves...but i wont hold my breath!!

[randalds]

Posted by speakinup at 08:47 PM : Jun 29, 2007

You were never in the service were you? It's pretty obvious since the response "I'm a Sgt! I work for a living" has been in the military since certainly WWII, if not before. It's a long time running joke and shot at the officers. Hell even the officers know it too, since none of them who turn out any good could have done it without the NCO's that babysit them along and all smart officers will tell you the same. The NCO's ARE the military and we just let the officers THINK they're in charge.

Oh and as for having an authority problem, you have apparently forgotten one thing. The president doesn't have more authority then the people, of which I am one. He works for us, we do not serve him. This is not a monarchy or dictatorship (not yet anyway, though the bas***** in the White House now is trying to make it one), so the punk on Pennsylvania street is my employee and yours too. He is a public servant (and a temp at that) so why would I be worried about someone who not only doesn't have authority over me, but who I actually have authority over myself?