Reuters reports British anti-terrorist police are hunting for a "dirty" chemical bomb:
More than 250 officers, some wearing chemical, biological and radiological protection suits, shot one man and arrested another during a dawn raid on an east London house on Friday.[. . .]
Some newspapers, citing unnamed security sources, said police believed suspected militants had made a "dirty" chemical device -- a conventional bomb surrounded by toxic material that could be set off by a bomber wearing a suicide jacket.
"We are absolutely certain this device exists and could be used either by a suicide bomber or in a remote-controlled explosion," one source told the Sun newspaper.
Newspapers quoted security chiefs who they said believed an attack was imminent, with possible targets including the underground train network or pubs crowded with fans watching the soccer World Cup tournament which starts next week.
"We're 100 percent certain that an attack was being planned. If we haven't stopped it, it could take place very soon," the Daily Mirror quoted a police source as saying.
According to the London Times, an informant told MI5 that he had seen a “chemical vest” at the home of two young men. Police suspect a suicide bomber was ready to use the device in a terror attack on London.
Armed officers who led the assault on the terraced house in Forest Gate, East London, wore oxygen masks and protective chemical gear after a tip-off from MI5 that the device had already been assembled.[. . .]
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, said that the raid, codenamed Operation Volga, was ordered in response to “specific intelligence”.
He said that there had been no time to conduct further surveillance, which suggests that the police believed a terrorist was close to launching an attack. The fear is that if chemicals were to be used then a likely target could be a train compartment on the London Underground.
Another theory is that a suicide attacker, wearing the vest under a shirt, could trigger the device in a crowded venue, such as a pub full of people watching an England World Cup match.
The Washington Post reports the man who was shot during the Operation Volga raid was hospitalized and arrested under the Terrorism Act, on suspicion of "the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism."
More as the story develops.
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