London: Police in London say they have deactivated a suspected bomb capable of creating huge casualties, raising renewed fears of a terrorist strike almost two years after the city was hit by deadly suicide bombers.
The device, consisting of 200 liters of fuel -- possibly linked to a triggering mechanism -- was found in a car in The Haymarket, in the city's busy nightclub and theater district.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose appointment just two days earlier is seen as a potential spur for extremists to mount an attack, said the incident highlighted dangers facing the country.
Brown, whose predecessor Tony Blair's support for the war stoked anger among Islamic militants, said Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and the public "need to be alert" at all times.
The incident revived painful memories of July 7, 2005, when four Islamic extremist suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport system in the deadliest strike on the city since World War II.
Police said they had rendered the device safe shortly after it was discovered Friday, but wide cordons thrown up by forensic officers checking for other explosives and the closure of the Piccadilly underground railway station brought gridlock to London's busy commercial district.
Eyewitnesses told Sky News that the alert was raised by door staff at a nearby nightclub after the silver Mercedes car was driven into trash cans at a time when the area would have been bustling with people.
The witness said the large silver saloon car was driven "erratically" before the minor crash. The driver was not stopped.
Security sources told CNN that the suspected bomb was "a relatively crude device" containing at least 200 liters, or around 50 gallons, of fuel in canisters.
"There is no indication it was about to be remotely detonated, or detonated at all," said CNN International Security Correspondent Paula Newton. "But it was most definitely some kind of bomb."
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