Counterterrorism Blog

In London today, a car bomb was defused outside of a central London nightclub at 2 AM (British Time), targeting up to 1,700 people with a combination of gasoline bombs and reportedly a trunk full of nails.

London police were contacted when witnesses saw a Mercedes being driven erratically near London West End night club Tiger Tiger, and the driver jumped out of the automobile and ran away. The car was reported to have two gasoline canisters and be full of nails. Witnesses subsequently saw gas canisters being removed from a Mercedes automobile by police at 4 AM BDT.

According to the Daily Mail, the apparent target, the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket, had up to 1,700 people inside. A Daily Mail senior anti-terrorist source said: "This was a viable device which could have caused massive damage and killed hundreds if it had worked. The consequences would have been terrible. This is the scenario that we have dreaded."

Shane Brighton, a counter-terrorism expert, told Sky News: "This is highly unlikely to be an Irish device, given the current state of politics there. Al Qaeda tend to go for symbolic timing."

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UPDATE
A second car bomb was found during the day in London's West End. The Telegraph reports that "Sources revealed that officers examining a Mercedes found in an underground car park off Park Lane this afternoon discovered an explosive device inside. Earlier this afternoon Park Lane was sealed off and Hyde Park evacuated after bomb experts were called in to examine the car. Security alerts caused by the searches brought much of London to a standstill."

CBS News reports that "Hours before London explosives technicians dismantled a large car bomb in the heart of the British capital's tourist-rich theater district, a message appeared on one of the most widely used jihadist Internet forums, saying: 'Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed.' This was on the "al Hesbah" chat room by a person who goes by the name "Abu Osama al-Hazeen".

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This type of car bombing plot is typical of other British Jihadist car bomb plots in the past, including both the July 2005 bomb plots, and the Dhiren Barot Jihadist group bomb plots.
--- In July 2005, a number of bombs and components, some packed with nails to cause death and maximum injury, were recovered from a car parked by the July 7 bombers at Luton station.
--- British Jihadist Dhiren Barot pleaded guilty to plotting a series of attacks, including detailed plans to explode limousines packed with gas cylinders, explosives and nails after leaving them in underground London parking garages or hotels.

Scotland Yard stated that detectives from Counter Terrorism Command were investigating the bomb plot.

Police said they had no warning of an attack. "The police did not have any advance intelligence of this which is worrying," said Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrew's University in Scotland. "They will be concerned there might be other devices in the area or elsewhere in central London because if it is al-Qaeda one of their characteristics is to set off coordinated devices.''

This came on the second day of Gordon Brown's role as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who has urged Britons to remain vigilant following the discovery.

Traffic disruption is ongoing as London police investigate the incident; this includes closing nearby streets, diverting buses, and closing the Piccadilly Circus subway station.

Sources:

London Times: Car bomb defused near London nightclub
London Telegraph: Car bomb found in London's West End
BBC News: Car bomb found in central London
Sky News: Bomb Designed To Cause Devastation
Daily Mail: London on terror alert after 'massive' bomb attack on bar
Bloomberg: U.K. Police Find Explosive Device in Central London (Update6)
CBS: Was London Bomb Plot Heralded On Web? Internet Forum Comment From Night Before: "London Shall Be Bombed"
Evening Standard: Al Qaeda suspected of massive bomb attack on nightclub
ABC: Car Bomb Found in London 20 Days After al Qaeda Suicide Bomber 'Graduation Ceremony'
FOX: Official: Diffused Bomb in Central London Would Have Caused Significant Damage
Britain's domestic Press Association news agency: Police probe possible Iraq link to London bomb
Bombs find shows outrages on 7/7 and 7/21 were linked
Dhiren Barot: British Terror Plotter Gets Life In Prison