Mobile phone calls failed to trigger London blasts: report

July 2, 2007 · Filed Under Crime, Technology, Terrorism, Terrorists

The attempted London car bombings were meant to be detonated by calls to mobile phones in the two vehicles, but failed for technical reasons, the Evening Standard reported Monday.

The calls made on the phones allowed police to trace those behind the failed attacks last Friday, the London daily evening newspaper said, without giving sources.

The phones were meant to set off blasts when they were called, but the devices failed to detonate the mixture of gas canisters and nails in the two Mercedes cars parked in London’s entertainment district.

The bombers twice called the car outside the “Tiger Tiger” nightclub on Haymarket off Piccadilly Circus and the one in nearby Cockspur Street off Trafalgar Square four times, it added.

Police have arrested seven suspects following Friday’s two failed London attacks and a third attack Saturday at Glasgow Airport, when a blazing vehicle loaded with gas canisters ploughed into the main terminal door.

Calls logged on the phones led detectives to addresses in Liverpool, Glasgow and Staffordshire in the English West Midlands, the Evening Standard said.

Britain’s national security threat level has been raised to its highest, meaning another attack is expected “imminently.”

[AFP]