A RUSH-HOUR explosion rocked a London Underground station last night.
The device went off inside a vehicle, according to London Fire Brigade,
but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Police were searching for more devices at Woodside Park station, north
Finchley, with firefighters standing by.
Mr Derek French, steward at the nearby Woodside Park Club, said he
heard the blast at about 6pm. He was in no doubt it was a bomb. ''When
the Staples Corner one went off, it was a similar sound,'' he said.
Underground services were suspended on the Northern line betweeen High
Barnet and Finchley Central stations.
The scene of last night's explosion is about a mile from the Inglis
Barracks where one soldier was killed and nine injured by a bomb in
August, 1988.
Scotland Yard said the blast at 6.07pm damaged one car, possibly more,
in the station's car park.
''There are no reports of any injuries,'' said a spokesman.
The area was cleared after a coded warning at 5.22pm was given to the
Associated Press news agency by a man saying he was from the IRA.
''Officers from the anti-terrorist branch, SO13, are at the scene and
the area remains sealed off,'' she added.
London Fire Brigade said the explosion was not a controlled one.
An AP spokesman said the person who rang the US agency specified
Woodside Park station and warned a large device had been planted.
''The caller said they had 15 minutes to clear the station.''
London Regional Transport press officer Neil Garrie said: ''There has
been an incident and the police are investigating. This is clearly a
criminal matter.''
According to residents police began evacuating the area about 20
minutes before the blast.
Steven Turner, 35, was in his home in nearby Gainsborough Road. He
said: ''There was a loud thud. Before that there were sirens going all
over the place.''
Simon Keen, 23, a research scientist, was returning to his home in
Holden Avenue when the explosion happened.
He said the police had already cordoned off the roads around the
station and were evacuating residents, including young children from a
nearby synagogue school.
''The children were about half-way when the bomb went off so there are
a few mothers here going frantic. They were asking the police where
their children were, but the police didn't know they were being taken
round another way,'' he said.
The attack at Inglis barracks, the Mill Hill headquarters of the
military postal service, blew the roof off living quarters where 14 men
were sleeping.
Lance Corporal Michael Robbins, 23, was the first British serviceman
to be killed by the IRA on the mainland in six years.
Earlier yesterday, two bombs exploded in a multi-storey car park in
Belfast.
One inside a hijacked car went off on the fifth floor, and a second
which may have been left to catch investigating police officers,
exploded 15 minutes later on the floor below.
A third bomb went off at a city electrical store later. The device was
left in the store, but it was carried outside, where it exploded.
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