Hunt for Al Qaeda terror gang behind 'massive' London bomb attack (Evening Standard UK)
An international manhunt was launched tonight to find the gang - believed to be linked to al Qaeda - that came within moments of blowing up hundreds of revellers in a London nightclub.
As the capital remained on high alert, fresh details emerged of the 'massive' car bomb - primed with petrol, gas canisters and nails - discovered by police in the heart of the West End. It was reported tonight that the bomb was to have been triggered by a mobile phone.
Park Lane, on Hyde Park's eastern edge, is closed tonight from Marble Arch to Hyde Park corner, with a 200-metre cordon around a suspicious vehicle in an underground car park.
Terrorists came within moments of causing carnage in London's West End with a Baghdad-style car bomb which had a radius of 200 yards.
Only a stroke of good luck and the heroism of bomb disposal men, who disabled the device by hand as it gave off fumes, prevented an atrocity.
Sky News reports that the police believe the bomb was set to be detonated by mobile phone trigger and that officers risked their lives by removing the trigger.
A Mercedes left near the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket was packed with 60 litres of petrol in containers, propane gas canisters and hundreds of nails. It also had a full tank of petrol.
More than 1,000 people were inside for a 'Sugar 'n' Spice night' which the club calls the 'finest ladies' night in London'. There were thousands more in the surrounding streets and neighbouring clubs.
At the UK’s Muslim Public Affairs Committee web site, a commenter thinks this may be a “marketing stunt.” By MEMRI. Or some other “Israeli front group.” (LGF)
SEE ALSO: Second car bomb found in London's Park Lane (Daily Mail UK)
A second car bomb has been defused in the heart of London sparking fears that others could be primed and parked around the capital.
The Met's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said it was similar to the first car bomb found outside Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket.
It was also a Mercedes and contained a "considerable amount" of explosive material and nails, he said. It is being inspected by Metropolitan Police explosives officers tonight having been recovered from an underground car park off Park Lane in the centre of the capital.
