Anti-terrorist police in London are investigating the possibility that dissident Irish republican terrorists were responsible for a small "high-explosive" bomb that detonated on Hammersmith Bridge yesterday.
The incident brought a swift response from Scotland Yard, which has sanctioned an increase in high-visibility policing on the streets of the capital.
Late last night no one had claimed responsibility for the bomb which exploded without warning at about 4.30 a.m. No one was injured, but some structural damage was caused to the bridge.
The explosion came on the day that the reinstated Northern Ireland Executive was meeting for the first time, and speculation that republican terrorists, possibly dissident republicans opposed to the peace process, were responsible is clearly a factor in the police investigation.
As police engineers, divers and forensic experts began a search of the bomb scene and the riverbed of the Thames below, the head of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch and Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Mr Alan Fry, did not rule out the possibility of a link with Irish republican terrorists.
"I am not going to speculate, but clearly they would be a line of inquiry," he said.
He said no telephone warning had been received and he refused to be drawn on whether the explosive device contained Semtex. Reports suggested later that police sources believed the bomb contained one to two kilograms of Semtex.
The Sinn Fein MLA for North Belfast, Mr Gerry Kelly, who was in London lobbying the international diplomatic corps on the party's opposition to the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, said if the bombing was connected to the current political developments in Northern Ireland "then it is detrimental to the peace process and therefore it is of no value and runs contrary to the process we are in involved in, which is conflict resolution". The bomb was attached to a girder underneath the south side of the bridge, and roads around Hammersmith Bridge, which provides one of London's main north-south links, were immediately closed while the emergency services and the police attended the scene.
When they arrived it was quickly established that while no one was injured there was some structural damage to a bridge girder, and the public walkway on the bridge was partially damaged by the explosion.
The windows of several houses nearby were also blown out. Several people reported hearing the explosion up to half a mile away.
The bombing caused maximum disruption to motorists during the early-morning rush-hour traffic.
The bridge and several roads around the bridge were closed and knock-on traffic jams were reported up to 12 miles away on the M4 motorway.
The roads were not reopened until late afternoon. Hammersmith Bridge has been a target for republican bombers before. In April 1996 the IRA planted two large Semtex bombs underneath the bridge on the south side. They contained between 30lb and 40lb of explosives and were the largest IRA bombs planted in Britain. They failed to explode, and only the detonators were damaged.
As police continued their investigation and reminded Londoners to be "vigilant" for the possibility of terrorist attacks, the local Labour MP, Mr Iain Coleman, condemned the bombing saying it was an outrage against the public. The newly elected Mayor of London, Mr Ken Livingstone, described the bombing as a "deplorable outrage".