British Police investigating the car bombing in Birmingham tonight revealed that the vehicle involved in the attack was bought just hours before the explosion.
West Midlands Police also disclosed that three warning calls were made before the city centre blast, which is thought to have been the work of the dissident Real IRA.
The bomb, which was in the back of an Audi, registration E303 TOV, went off at 10.39 p.m. in Smallbrook Queensway, an area packed with bars and nightclubs.
A West Midlands Police spokesman tonight said that the beige Audi coupe was bought on Saturday afternoon in the Walsall area.
The spokesman said officers were anxious to establish where the car was between 2.30 p.m. on Saturday and the time of the detonation.
Referring to three warning calls made before the explosion, the spokesman added: "One was made to a bar in Birmingham, but was not reported to police.
"There were two other calls which were reported to us. The two calls we did receive were being acted on when the device exploded."
Police have said that the "substantial" device would have caused "very serious loss of life" if it had detonated fully.
The device was the same size as those planted in Ealing - about 40 kilograms - and outside the BBC Television Centre in west London earlier this year.
Only the detonator exploded in the blast, causing no injuries and leaving intact surrounding cars and buildings in the area of New Street railway station.
Speaking at the scene yesterday, West Midlands Police Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sims said: "This was a very substantial device, similar in size to the devices planted at the BBC and Ealing.
"Fortunately however, the device did not fully detonate. Had it fully detonated in this busy city centre on a Saturday night we would have sustained very serious loss of life and substantial damage to the city."
Birmingham was previously targeted by terrorists in the IRA's worst atrocity in Britain, when bombs ripped through two pubs in 1974, killing 21 people and injuring 162.
PA