DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum U.K. terror attack defused

Police in London's bustling nightclub and theater district on Friday defused a bomb that could have killed hundreds, after an ambulance crew spotted smoke coming from a Mercedes filled with a lethal mix of gasoline, propane and nails, authorities said.

The bomb near Piccadilly Circus was 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 and later said the attempted attack was "international terrorism."

Police were examining 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 Mercedes.

Hours after the discovery, police closed a major road on the edge of Hyde Park in response to reports of a suspicious vehicle. Despite the closure of Park Lane, a police spokesman said there was nothing to immediately suggest it was linked to the foiled bombing.

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

Officers were called to The Haymarket, just south of Piccadilly Circus, after an ambulance crew — responding to a call just before 1:30 a.m. about a person who had fallen at a nightclub — noticed smoke coming from a car parked in front of the building, Clarke said.

Early photographs of the metallic, pale green Mercedes show a canister bearing the words "patio gas," indicating it was propane gas, next to the car. The back door was open with blankets spilling out. The car was removed from the scene after a bomb squad disabled the explosives.

The busy Haymarket thoroughfare is packed with restaurants, bars, a cinema complex and West End theaters, and was buzzing at that hour. "Phantom of the Opera" is playing at the Her Majesty's Theater down the street.

It was ladies' night Thursday, nicknamed "Sugar 'N' Spice," at the massive Tiger Tiger nightclub, a three-story venue that at full capacity can pack in 1,770 people and stays open until 3 a.m.

The Haymarket venue is Tiger Tiger's flagship club — billed as "stylish and friendly," with live DJs, cocktails and an Asian fusion menu. Owner Novus Leisure also has Tiger Tiger clubs in eight other cities across Britain.

Police were also investigating the possibility that the planned attack could have been criminal in nature.

In response to the foiled bombing, the U.S. government urged Americans abroad to be vigilant but officials said they saw no potential terrorist threat in the United States ahead of next week's July 4 Independence Day holiday.

"At this time we are characterizing this as a localized incident in London," said Laura Keehner, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.

Police in Britain said they did not have any suspects. Authorities urged people who were out in the area to call Britain's anti-terror hot line with any information. Authorities closed the Piccadilly Circus subway station for eight hours and cordoned off a 10-block area around the scene.

Clarke said police would examine footage from the vast network of video cameras in central London equipped with license plate recognition software. There are 160 security cameras in the Westminster Council, the district encompassing Piccadilly Circus and the Haymarket area, alone.

The cameras were put in place following a series of IRA bombing attacks in London in the 1990s — and to enforce London's congestion charge, a toll levied on cars entering central London during certain times of the day.

A British security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the security details, said there were similarities between the device and vehicle bombs used by insurgents in Iraq.

The official also said the domestic spy agency MI5 would examine possible connections between Friday's bomb attempt and at least two similar foiled plots — to attack a London nightclub in 2004 and to pack limousines with gas canisters and shrapnel.

In the 2004 plot, accused members of an al-Qaida-linked terror cell were convicted of conspiring to cause explosions. One of the possible targets M15 overheard them discussing was the Ministry of Sound, one of London's biggest and most famous nightclubs.

One man is heard saying the plan was to "Blow the whole thing up."

The discovery of the bomb resurrected fears that followed the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings that killed 52 people on three London subways and a bus and failed attacks on the transit system just two weeks later.

Gordon Brown, who only Wednesday succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister, called it a stark reminder that Britain faces a serious and continuous threat of terrorist attacks: "I will stress to the Cabinet that the vigilance must be maintained over the next few days."

Gordon Johndroe, the National Security Council spokesman, said American officials were in contact with their British counterparts "and will continue to monitor the situation."

The terror threat level in Britain has remained at "severe" — meaning a terrorist attack is highly likely — since last August.

On Friday, Metropolitan Police said it sent more officers on the streets of central London. Authorities also stepped up security at Wimbledon.

One analyst said the bombers could be trying to send Britain's new leader a message.

"It's a way of testing Gordon Brown," said Bob Ayers, a security expert at the Chatham House think tank. "It's not too far-fetched to assume it was designed to expedite the decision on withdrawal (from Iraq)."

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Another win for the good guys.

Some did, some didn't but the fact remains that there are terrorist cells in Iraq and they must be eradicated as all the other terrorist cells throughout this planet. As long as we stop them from attacking and we kill more and more of these beasts, maybe someday we can live in peace, but thats not today, so lets just keep killing these scumbags so our people, and the people who support our way of life, can live without fear.

So let me ask you this,is the present strategy in Iraq one you support? I mean this "winning hearts and minds,helping install governments and deocracy"?

Or level it and get the hell out of dodge?

I stated my answer on this question before, I want to level Iraq and I would start with the women and children which in the long run would stop the breeding of new terrorists.

Very much as I had expected. Thanks for the straight forward answer.

Consider who you are asking because of past comments this....person has made I'm gonna say he goes with the latter.

Nobody is going to accuse him of doing something wild and crazy like thinking when he posts.

Quote:

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Inadequate boots on the ground, inadequate ability to temporarily seal the border, and inadequate implementation of some form of marshall law....

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About right although you left out proper adult leadership of the C.I.C but that may be splitting hairs.

We are at war against terrorism, and to stop it, you kill the problem and part of the problem is them breeding. Do you see the U.S. sending in 12 year olds to kill people? No, but to think others do that is sickening and needs to be stopped. Why should we show any remorse towards these people when they use their own women and children as suicide bombers to kill us? That doesn't make us terrorists, it's how wars have been won since the beginning of time.

Relax, the only thing Ol'Chunky is going to attack is his keyboard.

Actually Pit...it is estimated that the bombs in Japan saved a million US Soldiers and 500,000 Brittish soldiers....the expected casualty numbers for an invasion force into Japan. Japan was estimated of having 9 million soldiers....or basically their entire population....the numbers above were estimated for the first wave.

So I actually agree with you on this. The act of dropping thos bombs brought about an immediate end to the war as it changed the attitude of the enemy.

Now I am not advocating that we start dropping nukes until all terrorists in the Middle East stop fighting....but aside from the International outlook...If we really wanted too we could do it and it could work...as right now they are not afraid to attack us. As a matter of fact they bank on the fact that we try to fight with rules......However, the ultimate fear of retaliation would flip the tables on them. Using nukes would say the rules are out the window....Many people on the board say that our actions bring attacks....well flip those tables with a few nukes and don't you think the terrorists would start thinking the same thing????

Again by no means am I condoning leveling the entire Middle East with nuclear weapons...I am just stretching the hypothetical situation brought up by the notion of your comments...

U.K. police: 2 arrested after car on fire hit Glasgow airport after London bomb scare
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Detectives hunted Saturday for suspects who abandoned two explosives-packed cars in the heart of London's nightlife district, reviewing closed circuit television footage and scouring the vehicles for clues.

Amid fears of further attacks, a burning sport-utility vehicle crashed at full speed into the terminal building at Glasgow airport in Scotland, police and witnesses said.

The airport was evacuated and all flights suspended. Police said two people were arrested. TV footage showed flames and black smoke rising from a vehicle in front of the building.

"The Jeep is completely on fire and it exploded not long after. It exploded at the entrance to the terminal," witness Stephen Clarkson told the British Broadcasting Corp. "It may have been an explosion of petrol in the tank because it was not a massive explosion."

Earlier Saturday, counterterrorism officers at Scotland Yard briefed Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the British leader later chaired a meeting of top spies, police and senior officials in COBRA, the government's emergency committee, his office said.

Detectives said they were keeping an open mind about the suspects in the London case, but terrorism experts said the signs pointed to a cell linked to or inspired by al-Qaeda. Police would not comment on an ABC News report saying police had a "crystal clear" picture of one suspect from CCTV footage.

Police said they were strengthening patrols in the city to reassure the public, with 350 officers on duty at the annual Gay Pride parade through central London, not far from where two Mercedes loaded with gasoline, gas canisters and nails were found Friday.

One car was abandoned outside a nightclub on Haymarket, a busy street of shops, clubs, theaters and restaurants just yards from Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.

The other had been towed after being parked illegally on a nearby street and was discovered in an impound lot about a mile away near Hyde Park.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism chief, said the two devices could have caused "significant injury or loss of life."

The plot was uncovered a week before the second anniversary of the July 7 suicide bombings that killed 52 commuters on the city's transit system.

"London on the Edge" said the front-page headline in The Independent newspaper while the Daily Mail wondered, "Where's the Next Bomb?"

Mayor Ken Livingstone urged Londoners to remain vigilant.

"The discovery of two potential car bombs in central London, with those responsible still at large, means we face a very real threat of terrorist attack at this moment in time," he said.

The Times newspaper reported that police distributed a document to nightclubs two weeks ago warning of the threat from "vehicle-borne explosive devices" — car bombs. The document, prepared by the National Counterterrorism Security Office, took the form of general counterterrorism advice for British clubs.

Terrorism experts said the improvised devices discovered Friday were similar to ones used by homegrown terror cells — including the bombs used in the July 7 attacks — although the discovery of the second device suggested a coordinated and more sophisticated attack, possibly a terror cell with links to al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

Intelligence officials were examining a post to an Islamist website — hours before the cars were found — that suggested Britain would be attacked for awarding a knighthood to the novelist Salman Rushdie and for intervening in Muslim countries.

The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist websites, said a post on the al-Hesbah forum asked, "Is London craving explosions from al-Qaeda?" and added, "I say the good news, by Allah, London will be hit."

SITE said the message had been posted to an unmoderated, public section of the forum, and its relationship, if any, to the car bombs could not be verified.

U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., was briefed on the investigation and confirmed British authorities had found a cellphone. "They found a cellphone, and it was going to be used to detonate the bomb," King said Friday.

Police would not comment on the claim.

Clarke said police were examining footage from closed-circuit TV cameras, hoping the surveillance network in central London would help them track down the drivers of the Mercedes.

The CCTV footage will be compared with license plate recognition software, he said.

There had been no prior intelligence of planned al-Qaeda attacks, a British government official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

A British security official said the domestic spy agency MI5 would examine possible connections between the bomb attempt and at least two similar foiled plots — to attack a London nightclub in 2004, and to pack limousines with gas canisters and shrapnel.

In the 2004 plot, accused members of an al-Qaeda-linked terror cell were convicted of plotting to blow up the Ministry of Sound nightclub, one of London's biggest music venues.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-06-30-britain-saturday_N.htm

British police raided buildings near Glasgow and in central England and made a fifth arrest on Sunday, as the hunt intensified for suspects in the fiery attack on the Scottish city's airport and foiled car bombings in London.

The terrorist threat that Britain faces is "long-term and sustained," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a nationally televised interview. It is clear, he said, "that we are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with al-Qaida."

On Friday, police thwarted an apparent plot to set off a coordinated bomb attack in central London when an ambulance crew outside a nightclub spotted smoke coming from a Mercedes that was found to be rigged with explosives. They found a second Mercedes filled with explosives hours later.

And on Saturday, two men rammed a flaming Jeep into the main entrance of Glasgow airport, shattering the glass doors and sparking a raging fire just yards away from people lined up at check-in counters.

After meeting with the country's top intelligence officers, police and senior officials, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said Britain would not be cowed.

"We won't, as the British people, be intimidated or let anyone stop us getting on with our lives," Smith said, urging the public to remain vigilant.

The two men from the Glasgow attack were in custody Sunday, one of them under guard in Royal Alexandra Hospital after being engulfed in flames after crashing the Jeep Cherokee into the airport.

A road in front of the hospital was closed Sunday as police carried out the controlled explosion, and ambulances were taking emergency patients to another hospital, police said. All other wards were open, police said. No explosives were found.

Early Sunday, police arrested two people -- a 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman -- on a major highway in Cheshire in a joint swoop by officers from London and Birmingham.

Staffordshire Police Chief Superintendent Steve Loxley said officers raided addresses in the central town of Newcastle-Under-Lyme near the highway where the two were arrested.

A fifth suspect, a 26-year-old man, was arrested in Liverpool, and two homes were being searched there, police said.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.


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They seem to be real good at catching these guys. Awesome news.