That is the grim headline on the Guardian's website, regarding the news that two car bombs were found in West London early Friday. They are described as Iraqi-style car bombs.
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.
Scotland Yard said the attempted attacks were linked. Counter-terrorism officials were last night fearful of further attacks, and were candid about the limits of how much they could know about the scale of the threat.
Opinions among senior figures who talked to the Guardian ranged from hope that the attack was limited to the two car bombs, to a real fear that more attempts could be on the way. One was clear: "We are very worried. This was a deadly serious attempt." Another said: "We can only guess at the intent and scale [of the terrorists]. We are having to guess."
Here's a noteworthy excerpt from the story headlined Favoured tool of Iraqi insurgents, Kashmir separatists -- and al-Qaida:
Though the police said yesterday it was too early to be completely sure who was to blame, the attempted bomb attack in London's West End bore striking similarities with two planned al-Qaida attacks on the capital thwarted by police and the security service three years ago.
The Times of London reports that nightclubs were warned two weeks ago they could be a target. An excerpt:
The incident also appeared to be foreshadowed by a posting on an internet forum used by terrorists, saying: “Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah. London will be bombed.”
Times analyst Sean O'Neill had this to say:
This is what has been expected and feared for some months - that terror tactics honed on the streets of Baghdad would be visited on London and other Western targets.
The police and security services have been preparing for a vehicle-borne attack using either a car or, in the worst case scenario, a hijacked petrol or chemical tanker.
Earlier this year Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner warned that “vehicle borne weaponry is the greatest danger that we can face”.
Counter-terrorism Command confirmed recently that it has been conducting security spot checks on tanker vehicles entering London for more than a year.
British security agencies are well aware that many young British Muslims have travelled to Iraq and Afghanistan to join the mujahidin and some of those who survive will return here with terrorist expertise.
There was no specific intelligence that a car or lorry bomb attack was imminent - hence the UK threat level remained at “severe” rather than “critical” - but the expectation has been that al-Qaeda cells in Britain would attempt to explode such a device. ...
Compared to the days of the IRA’s British bombing campaigns, the car bomb at Haymarket appears amateurish. ... The devices may be amateurish but security experts have no doubt that they are still lethal.
Here's the Guardian's map.
Here's a BBC q-and-a.