nrthshgrl
It goes fast. Pay attention.
Member since 7/05 57538 total posts
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Vehicle In London Packed With Explosives
LONDON -- Police have shut down a major road in central London because of a suspicious vehicle.
The move came hours after authorities found and defused a car filled with explosives.
A police spokesman said there's no additional information yet about the suspicious vehicle on Park Lane, on the eastern edge of Hyde Park -- and nothing yet to suggest it was linked to the car that was found earlier.
The car found earlier in central London was packed with explosives, gas canisters, nails and a detonator and would have caused "significant damage," a British security official told The Associated Press Friday. An ambulance crew reported seeing smoke coming from the vehicle.
Authorities said they had defused the explosive device found in the parked car, and the new government called an emergency meeting of senior security chiefs to investigate.
"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," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security details.
The incident comes a week before the second anniversary of the July 7 London bombings, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed themselves and 52 bus and subway passengers.
Police said authorities plan to examine footage from closed-circuit television cameras in the area near Piccadilly Circus where the bomb was found. Authorities hope the surveillance network that extends throughout London will help them track the driver.
A security official said Britain's domestic spy agency will examine possible connections between the bomb attempt and at least two similar foiled plots.
One is a planned attack on a West End nightclub in 2004 and the other is a thwarted attempt to use limousines packed with gas canisters to attack targets in London and New York.
A British security official told The Associated Press there are similarities between the device in the car and vehicle bombs used by insurgents in Iraq.
Scotland Yard's Peter Clarke told a London news conference Friday that the incident shows the terror threat "is real, it is here and it is enduring."
Newly installed British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met the incident, his first crisis, head-on. Speaking to reporters outside his residence, Brown said, "The first duty of a government is the security of the people."
He went on to say, "We face a serious and continued security threat to our country."
Brown said the incident demonstrates "the need for us to be vigilant at all times." He warned British citizens to be alert to "any potential incident" and said "vigilance must be maintained over the next few days."
The attempted apparent attack caused increased security Friday at Wimbledon, tennis' prestigious championship.
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usuk2004
I'm ONE!
Member since 5/05 5150 total posts
Name:
Farah
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Re: Vehicle In London Packed With Explosives
Posted by mrswask
Ugh - my friend's plane is due to land in London in about 2 hours!
Seriously, wouldn't worry about it! I didn't even realize this happened until a couple of hours ago - it was in the middle of the night and no one was even talking about it this morning (I live in London)
My friend just got on a plane to go back to New York at 4pm. Said security was a nightmare (took them 2 hours), but everything else was fine.
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