Explosives-packed car defused in London

LONDON: Police in London’s bustling nightclub and theatre district on Friday defused a bomb that could have killed hundreds, after an ambulance crew spotted smoke coming from a Mercedes filled with a lethal mix of gasoline, propane and nails, authorities said.

The bomb near Piccadilly Circus was powerful enough to have caused “significant injury or loss of life” — possibly killing hundreds, British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said.

Britain’s new home secretary, Jacqui Smith called an emergency meeting of top officials and later said the attempted attack was “international terrorism.”

Police were examining footage from closed-circuit TV cameras in the area, Clarke said, hoping the surveillance network that covers much of central London will help them track down the driver of the Mercedes.

Hours after the discovery, police closed a major road on the edge of Hyde Park in response to reports of a suspicious vehicle. Despite the closure of Park Lane, a police spokesman said there was nothing to immediately suggest it was linked to the foiled bombing.

“We are currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism,” Smith said. “This reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant to the threat we face at all times.”

Officers were called to The Haymarket, just south of Piccadilly Circus, after an ambulance crew — responding to a call just before 1:30 a.m. about a person who had fallen at a nightclub — noticed smoke coming from a car parked in front of the building, Clarke said.

Early photographs of the metallic, pale green Mercedes show a canister bearing the words “patio gas,” indicating it was propane gas, next to the car. The back door was open with blankets spilling out. The car was removed from the scene after a bomb squad disabled the explosives.