Police were last night hunting a suspected al-Qaida-inspired terrorist cell after the discovery of two "Iraqi style" car bombs, which UK officials said were designed to cause mass murder. One was outside a London nightclub, and a second nearby.

Only luck and probable faults in the bombs' construction meant that the first device, inside a metallic green Mercedes, could be disarmed, while the second, in a blue Mercedes 280E, failed to explode. Police say both were capable of causing severe casualties and were intended to have been detonated remotely, most likely by a mobile phone.

Counter-terrorism officials said the first device - made up of 60 litres of petrol, several propane gas cylinders, nails and a detonation mechanism - was similar to those used by al-Qaida in Iraq.

The second car, containing similar lethal materials, was given a parking ticket at 2.30am before being towed to a car park in Park Lane, central London

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Terrorism

The URL for this article is http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/4062/

© 2012 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.

For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com