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Car Bomb Found in London 20 Days After al Qaeda Suicide Bomber 'Graduation Ceremony'

June 29, 2007 7:02 AM

London_mercedes_main The discovery of a massive car bomb set to detonate in central London comes just three weeks after what was described as an al Qaeda graduation ceremony of suicide bomb teams to be dispatched to Europe and the United States.

A videotape obtained by ABC News from a Pakistani journalist shows  groups of dozens of men al Qaeda says have gone through a terror training camp somewhere in Pakistan.

Photos: Inside the al Qaeda 'Graduation'

Teams of 50 to 60 men were supposedly dispatched to the United States, Canada, Germany and Great Britain.

Abc_aqtaliban_british_logo_070618_s On the tape, the leader of the British team speaks of the mission in broken English, "Let me say something about why we are going along with my team to tell a suicide attack in Britain."

That was just 20 days ago, and the existence of the tape first reported by ABC News put British and German security experts on edge.

It was also just last year that al Qaeda operative, Dhiren Barot, was convicted in a London court of planning suicide attacks in London and the U.S., using limousines and other vehicles, not unlike the bomb-rigged silver Mercedes discovered in London this morning.

Based on the early sketchy details, the car bomb was potentially powerful but relatively crude.

The great concern now is that if it is an al Qaeda operation, something that is still not known, but if it is, there would likely be other vehicle bombs in the works.

Today British officials are continuing a program begun earlier this month to check gas and chemical trucks, cement trucks and limousines and all vehicles coming and going from the famed Wimbledon tennis tournament now underway outside London.

Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?

June 29, 2007 in U.K. Bombing Attempts | Permalink | User Comments (24)

User Comments

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DIFFUSED? The word is defused. Lord, give me strength.

Posted by: remrafdn | Jun 29, 2007 8:16:33 AM

Ironically, the bumper sticker on the car said: “The global war on terror is just a bumper sticker”

Posted by: Erin | Jun 29, 2007 9:01:57 AM

This pathetic waste of humanity is so hell bent on blowing themsleves up so they can be with (get this) 72 virgins - One would think that they would blow themselves up at the ceremony so they could 'get at them virgins!' as soon as possible. This is 2007 isn't it or have I crossed into some parallel universe.

Posted by: orivon110 | Jun 29, 2007 9:07:11 AM

Why is the US STILL letting people who come from countries that support Al Qaeda and the Taliban into the US?

Those countries should not be given Visa's to the US regardless of who you are and your business. Do you forget, we are at War you know.

Posted by: KL McCracken | Jun 29, 2007 9:22:42 AM

Maybe, maybe not. Still there sickos.

"Graduation Ceremony" What a joke

Posted by: USA! USA! | Jun 29, 2007 9:25:06 AM

All I can say is that I don't think much of the Al Qaeda training programme. Definetley a fail in this case.

We will see in the coming days if there is to be a spate of suicide bomb attacks in the UK.

However reports seem to suggest that the bomb appears to be of the same design as those used in Iraq to such devastating affect.

That is the major worry me thinks.

Posted by: Chris | Jun 29, 2007 9:51:22 AM

look the liberals are right, there's not a terrorist threat in the world. Let's talk to them and ask them to stop. If were nice, they should respect our wishes.
Or we can round the terrorists up like animals and put them under the jail. We could cut there heads off too.
I prefer the second idea

Posted by: brian | Jun 29, 2007 10:13:53 AM

Seems like Al Qaeda trying to send a message to Gordon Brown.

Not going to work.

Posted by: Brendan | Jun 29, 2007 10:44:33 AM

Let's do what the bleedind heart Liberals want to do, leave them alone they will all go away....

Posted by: Freddie | Jun 29, 2007 10:44:43 AM

We are in trouble here in the usa. The left wing idea is to pamper your enemies and smile. Our idea of fighting terrorism is like fighting Tyson with a tooth pick.You can take a knife to a gun fight. Our mission in Iraq is to smile a let them kill our men and women. The USA will wake up when the terrorist reach our soil. The ones opposed to fighting will bear a heavy burden.

Posted by: Lawrence | Jun 29, 2007 11:15:15 AM

Apparently this bomber didn't graduate at the top of his class. The car should have a sign on it proclaiming, "Car Bombing, Coming to a Town Near You!"

It's only a matter of time before the U.S. has to deal with this crap. Secure our borders!

God Bless Britain that this bomb didn't explode.

Posted by: BT | Jun 29, 2007 11:26:30 AM

I blame Blair and his ridiculous political correct policy of letting in over a million Muslims from Pakistan Iran and Iraq into the UK over the last ten years. These people where let in with NO checks whatsoever, this is mainly because they turn up without papers and make up a name and a story and are let in. Also Muslim men are allowed to marry and live with 13 year old girls in the UK and they can also marry many wives and claim for them all on benefits and consequently claim the need for 5 bed and above houses paid for by the state, even though this is illegal for the native population. And finally the second most popular baby name in the UK in 2007 is MOHAMED which I find an absolute disgrace. This is all part of that charlatan Tony Blair legacy he has ruined this country for the native population, and as a native I can see no end to it. We now have 2 million Muslims in the UK and with arrange marriages and large families they are gaining in numbers everyday. Our UK gov are incompetent idiots all they try to do is appease these nutters

Posted by: P Harriss | Jun 29, 2007 11:38:17 AM

Once again the forces of evil were stopped from killing a hundreds of innnocent people. Good work by all involved in stopping the plot.

Hopefully we have seen the last of the posts of the US haters who are so stupid as to think somehow this is our fault. This tragedy would have been similar in scope to Khobar Towers (1996) and Lebanon (1984. I believe those episodes were way before the War on Teror began in this country. It obviously began in the '80s for the radical islamists.

Posted by: Duhize | Jun 29, 2007 11:56:26 AM

Why is it that the governments just sit back and react or defend against the growing and evolving threats. These guys are based in Pakistan but the Pakistanis have given them that part of the country to operate from. Doesn't anyone see the utter stupidity of this. If we went in with the blessing of the pakistani government we would be destroying Alqeada's only home and disrupting terrorism in a big way.
We will be living with this forever unless something is done.

Posted by: CHALLA | Jun 29, 2007 12:12:55 PM

I am confused as to why The Blotter connects the discovery of this car in London with that ceremony in Pakistan. The ceremony was supposed to dispatch suicide bomb squads. There is no evidence of suicidal involvement with the car in London.

Posted by: Andrew Tyndall | Jun 29, 2007 12:36:16 PM

after you first presented this story, it seemed no other network was even interested in showing it, or following it up. The media is turning a blind eye as to what is going to happen here, it seems NBC, CBS and Cnn will not touch a story on this subject, they are afraid to discuss Radical Islam on the air or show their methods of torture. I guess freedom of the press does not apply when u are afraid of someone, Not one journalist came forth in defense of Rusdie and his right to do the book the Satanic Verses, I guess those fake freedom loving journalist thought their heads were more important . You were first with this Brian, good job, I just hope the people in this country are as viligant as the Brits were, It woudl seem only a matter of time before this happens here.

Posted by: Airmanc5 | Jun 29, 2007 1:15:58 PM

this is crazy. a graduation ceremony????????

Posted by: Bob the Computer Guy | Jun 29, 2007 1:48:34 PM

The elephant in the room on this story is Pakistan as the base of this terrorist training camp. Why is the U.S. on such friendly terms with this country when they are producers and proliferators of hate against the U.S and its allies?

Posted by: TW | Jun 29, 2007 1:56:58 PM

Apparently, this was not a suicide mission; the device was supposed to be detonated remotely via a cell phone...

Anyway, British security services are currently monitoring 1,600 individuals involved in terrorist activity, 200 networks and 30 plots. Britain's current terrorism threat level has been deemed "severe" since the plot to bomb trans-Atlantic jets was uncovered last August. That means an attack is thought highly likely.

It's a tough, ongoing fight, but if anybody can handle it, it's the British...good luck to them!

Posted by: Jazz | Jun 29, 2007 2:05:05 PM

this is rumors from fbi
,,,,,,,,cia story too

Posted by: wenny robinawati herusugoggog | Jun 29, 2007 2:07:37 PM

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