Information on Suspect Bomb in London
News & Happenings
June 29, 2007
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What Happened
The car in which the suspected bomb
was found being loaded today onto a
removal vehicle. Photo courtesy AP.
According to media reports: London Police thwarted an apparent terror attack Friday when a car bomb was found shortly before 2 a.m. London time in The Haymarket near the famed Piccadilly Circus in the heart of central London's West End theater district. An ambulance crew attending an earlier incident reportedly had spotted smoke coming from the silver-green Mercedes outside a nightclub close to an American Express foreign exchange office and alerted London Police.
An eyewitness has stated that the car was witnessed being driven "erratically" before it collided with some bins, and the driver fled the scene apparently unscathed by the minor collision, which did not damage the vehicle. It is being reported the bomb was made up of canisters containing a lethal mix of approximately 200 liters of gasoline, propane gas, and nails attached to a detonator, which was disabled by hand by Explosives Officers.
Impact in the United States
TSA's Office of Intelligence and Office of Law Enforcement, along with Homeland Security and the FBI, are in close contact with our UK counterparts monitoring the ongoing investigation. TSA is also in contact with transit security operators for situational awareness. Individual transit operators are implementing their own security measures and heightened vigilance is appropriate.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement that there are no plans to change the Threat Level in the United States. "At this point, I have seen no specific, credible information suggesting that this incident is connected to a threat to the homeland," Secretary Chertoff said. "We encourage the public to enjoy the upcoming holiday but ask, as always, that they be vigilant and report any suspicious activities to authorities."
