Double Bombing Averted in London

Police cordoned off many of the busiest streets in central London, which are even busier than usual these summer days in the height of the tourist season. Major traffic disruptions and business closures resulted. Several theaters shut their doors on what normally would be a busy Friday night.

Nadeem Saumtally, 21, a university student standing near Piccadilly Circus, said the area usually was "a vibrant entertainment area -- it never sleeps, even at 2 a.m." But, he added, with the heavy police presence, "it's buzzing right now, but for all the wrong reasons."

Shane Howell, 27, a security officer in central London, said: "It's disgusting that someone would pick this area. They're targeting innocent people."

British police increased car checks and security measures Friday at the continuing Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament and were reviewing security measures for Sunday's concert at Wembley Stadium in honor of Princess Diana that is to be broadcast worldwide.

Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, appealed "to all sections of the community, Muslims and non-Muslims, if they have any information to come forward" and tell police.

Radicals have previously targeted London nightclubs. A plot to blow up the Ministry of Sound club here in 2004 was thwarted.

Police said they were studying footage from the many closed-circuit security cameras near Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square in hopes of determining the routes the two cars took and getting images of the drivers. According to early news accounts, the first car was seen traveling erratically. It struck something and was abandoned.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who had taken over the job only a day earlier, chaired a top-level meeting known as COBRA, for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, which convenes in national and terrorist-related emergencies.

Postings on Internet sites suggested that the bombs could be tied to Queen Elizabeth II's recent decision to award a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie. His novel "The Satanic Verses" had been deemed blasphemous to Islam.

Other analysts speculated that it could be a way to send a message to Brown, in his first days as prime minister, that he should withdraw troops from Iraq or face more bombings.

Al-Qaeda operatives have drawn up plans in the past to attack in London by detonating cars stuffed with gas cylinders and other explosives. In July 2004, counterterrorism officials in Pakistan seized a laptop computer containing directions for a plot to blow up three limousines in an underground parking garage in Britain. The 39-page document outlining the "Gas Limos Project" was written by Dhiren Barot, an al-Qaeda operative and British citizen.

The limousine scheme called for a six-man team to park the vehicles in a garage underneath a large building -- the precise target wasn't specified -- and detonate the bombs by remote control.

According to the memo, Barot envisioned packing each limo with 12 or 13 cylinders of propane, acetylene or liquid oxygen, which would be detonated by a separate main charge of explosives. He also suggested packing the vehicles with nails -- "preferably rusty" -- to act as shrapnel.

A convert to radical Islam, Barot designed the attack to occur at night, using black limos with tinted windows to avoid detection. He is in prison serving a 30-year sentence.

Explosives experts said there were obvious parallels between Friday's bombs and the Gas Limos Project. "This is quite clearly the same kind of bomb that was considered by this chap Barot," said Hans J. Michels, a professor of chemical engineering at Imperial College in London.

Michels said a powerful main explosive charge -- which itself could cause considerable damage-- would be necessary to detonate the gas cylinders. If the metal tanks were successfully broken, the liquids they held would likely transform into a vapor cloud. If kept in a relatively contained area, such as a parking garage, the gas would set off "a fireball the size of a small house," he said.

One advantage of using gas cylinders, Barot wrote, was that they were easily obtainable and unlikely to arouse the suspicion of authorities.

Special correspondent Karla Adam contributed to this report.