Police confirm second London car bomb

A second car bomb has been defused in central London almost 24 hours after an identical device was found by chance and made safe.

The first bomb, in a metallic light green Mercedes, was spotted around 1am by a vigilant ambulance crew who had been called to the Tiger Tiger nightclub in The Haymarket, near Piccadilly, to attend an injured man. They saw fumes and called police.

Officers now believe it was vapour released from at least 60 litres of volatile petrol held inside the car alongside nails and propane cylinders. The area was cordoned off while explosives officers eventually made the device safe.

On nearby Cockspur Street, the second car - a blue Mercedes 280E - had been issued with a parking ticket around 2.30am and was towed to a vehicle compound in prestigious Park Lane an hour later.

Scotland Yard will not comment on reports that a mobile phone was found in the first car which may have been intended to trigger the explosion. A quick-thinking police officer reportedly disconnected the phone before bomb squad officers arrived.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, told a press conference the second bomb contained nails and petrol like the first, and the two were clearly linked.

He said: "During the course of today we learned that a second Mercedes car, a blue 280E model, was issued with a parking ticket at about 2.30am this morning.

"This vehicle was parked in Cockspur Street, London W1. Cockspur Street runs between Haymarket and Trafalgar Square. This is close to where the first vehicle was found and made safe this morning.

"The second vehicle, in Cockspur Street, was subsequently taken to the pound in Hyde Park at about 3.30am this morning. This second vehicle has been examined during the course of this afternoon and earlier this evening, by Metropolitan Police Explosives Officers."

He continued: "There was a considerable amount of fuel, and gas canisters. As in the first vehicle, there was also a substantial quantity of nails.

"This, like the first device, was potentially viable and was made safe by the Explosives Officers. The vehicles are clearly linked.

Mr Clarke asked members of the public who saw the blue Mercedes parked in Cockspur Street early on Friday morning, or who have any other information, to contact the Confidential Anti Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.

Earlier on Friday, following the discovery of the first device, Mr Clarke had said: "There was no intelligence whatsoever that we were going to be attacked in this way."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the incident showed that Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and the public need to be alert at all times.

The Government's emergency response committee, Cobra, met on Friday morning before briefing the Cabinet on the dramatic events.

Speaking in her first full day in the job, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "What I think is very important is that the public remain vigilant at all times."

Intelligence sources said they could not rule out an al-Qaeda link to the car bomb, and said the danger of international Islamist terrorism is the main reason the country's threat level is placed at "severe", the second highest rating.

"We're following up lots of leads and hopefully making some progress, but we're still keeping quite an open mind," a security source said.

The plot might have been inspired by terrorist mastermind Dhiren Barot, who was jailed for life last November. He conspired to park limousines packed with gas canisters underneath high-profile buildings before detonating them.

The gang behind the fertiliser bomb plot planned to target nightclubs such as the Ministry of Sound in London. The five members, jailed for life earlier this year, had close links with the July 7 London bombers.

The incident comes almost two years after four suicide bombers brought carnage to London's transport network, claiming the lives of 52 innocent people on July 7.

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