SECURITY guards last night thwarted an attempt to bomb Britain's
biggest building.
In what was the second bomb plot to go wrong in London at the weekend,
they challenged two men, one armed, who fled from a transit van packed
with explosives at the 800ft Canada Tower on Canary Wharf, in Docklands.
The men escaped in another van, found later by police two miles away
in Bethnal Green, east London.
Police evacuated a large area of the Isle of Dogs after bomb squad
officers used a robot to blow the doors off the first van to
investigate. A large explosive device was found inside.
The guards at Canary Wharf had spotted the blue transit van as it
pulled up at about 8pm under the railway station. When they went to
investigate two men got out, and one, his face covered, produced a gun.
No shots were fired.
Buildings nearby were evacuated, including the offices of the Daily
Telegraph, and roads were sealed off.
A hunt was already under way in London for a terrorist bomber on the
run following the shooting of a police officer, and a similar incident
with a lorry.
Detectives believe a major IRA bomb attack was thwarted when two
uniformed officers stopped the lorry carrying a ''vast'' quantity of
explosives and other bomb-making equipment on Saturday.
One of the officers, PC Ray Hall, was injured when he was shot in the
head and back by the two terrorists in the lorry as they tried to escape
on foot.
A man was yesterday being held at Paddington Green police station
under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
In Northern Ireland the outlawed Ulster Freedom Fighters have vowed
more terrorist attacks after one of the worst periods of violence this
year.
Three civilians and a police officer were killed over the weekend, and
the centre of Coleraine devastated by an IRA bomb.
Among the victims was Mr John Lovett, a 72-year-old Second World War
veteran, one of three men murdered in a UFF gun and grenade attack on a
bookmaker's shop.
Sir Hugh Annesley, Northern Ireland's Chief Constable, will meet other
police and Army chiefs this morning.
The UFF, regarded as the terrorist wing of the Protestant Ulster
Defence Association, says it will counter IRA attacks and claimed the
murders at the betting shop were in retaliation for the IRA bomb in
Coleraine.
One person was critically ill and another said to be in a serious
condition, among 12 people, including two Protestants, wounded at James
Murray's betting shop in the Oldpark Road district of North Belfast.
A gunman fired more than 40 shots and then another man flung a grenade
among the dead and wounded.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article