BRITAIN:The methodology and the type of target in the latest incidents are not new, writes Mary Fitzgerald, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
The attempted car-bombings in central London have strong parallels with two of the most significant terrorist plots foiled in Britain in recent years.
Last November, Dhiren Barot, a British convert to Islam, was jailed for life for masterminding a plot to leave limousines packed with gas canisters and explosives in underground car parks in London before blowing them up.
Barot, who had links to al-Qaeda, detailed his plans in a document entitled "Rough Presentation for the Gas Limos Project", which was found on a computer seized during a police raid on a house in Pakistan in 2004.
In it Barot wrote that his main objective was to ensure that the attack would inflict mass damage and chaos. "Gas can be employed to cause large-scale damage to structures since many [ gas types] are by nature extremely flammable as well as explosive."
In a passage discussing the use of petrol in attacks, Barot pointed out that apart from being easily available at filling stations, petrol cans could be filled with sharp metal nails to maximise damage.
The car-bomb planted in London's West End yesterday was packed with 60 litres of petrol, gas cylinders and nails.
Significantly, Barot did not envisage the attacks as suicide missions and he planned an escape strategy for his proposed six-man unit. Seven of Barot's co-conspirators were jailed at the Old Bailey last month for plotting attacks on US and British targets.
Yesterday's foiled attack also echoes a plan by another group with links to al-Qaeda to blow up London's Ministry of Sound nightclub with bombs made from fertiliser. Two of the five plotters in that case were overheard saying that bombing clubs would "get the public talking". They justified such attacks because clubbers would be breaking Islamic codes prohibiting the drinking of alcohol. All five were jailed for life in April. The car in yesterday's attempted bombing was left outside the popular Tiger Tiger nightclub complex in London's West End.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism unit, said that while it was too early to say who was responsible, the incident "resonated" with previous plots. Mr Clarke specified nightclubs as a potential target.
"The threat from terrorism is real. It is here, enduring. Life must go on, but we must all stay alert," he said.
Britain's security services are examining the possibility of international links, looking at similarities between the attempted attack and car-bombs used by insurgents in Iraq. In February, London Police Commissioner Ian Blair publicly echoed security services' fears that extremist cells in Britain might attempt to copy Iraqi insurgents by detonating car-bombs in densely-populated areas without warning.
Attacks linked to al-Qaeda involving vehicle-borne bombs have also taken place in Turkey and Algeria. "Vehicle-borne weaponry is the greatest danger that we can face," Commissioner Blair said.
Police have stepped up surveillance on key routes into London, carrying out security checks on vehicles likely to be used by bombers such as petrol and chemical tankers and cement-mixers.