London placed on bomb alert

London stepped up security today as the Real IRA resumed its mainland campaign with a car bomb in the centre of Birmingham at the weekend.

Security experts fear the capital is a constant target for dissident republican terrorists trying to de-rail the peace process. London now faces a twin terrorist threat from both the Irish extremists and the possibility of an attack from Islamic terror groups.

A massive security operation is planned to protect the capital during major events in the near future such as the Lord Mayor's Show on Saturday and Remembrance Day the next day. Security is already high around key government buildings, Westminster, the City of London and Docklands.

As the peace process continues security chiefs fear that the Real IRA will attempt to mount a terror campaign on the mainland in the run-up to Christmas.

Two active service units are believed to be operating on the mainland, one of them possibly based in west London. Despite seven terrorist incidents in London in the past 16 months, police have not made a single arrest.

Police in the West Midlands said the car bomb would have caused "very serious loss of life" if it had detonated fully. The "substantial" device was the same size as those planted in Ealing - about 40kg - and outside BBC Television Centre in west London earlier this year.

In Birmingham, only the detonator went off, causing no injuries in the area of New Street railway station. Anti-terrorist officers said the failure of the car bomb to explode could provide forensic experts with a vital clue to the identity of the bombers. Speaking at the scene, Birmingham's assistant chief constable Chris Sims said: "This was a very substantial device, similar in size to the devices planted at the BBC and Ealing.

"Had it fully detonated in this busy city centre on a Saturday night we would have sustained very serious loss of life and substantial damage to the city.

"This fits a pattern of events involving Irish republican dissident terrorist groups, probably the Real IRA."

Mr Sims said the bomb, which was in the back of a beige Audi coup?, registration E303 TOV, parked in Smallbrook Queensway, went off at 10.39pm on Saturday. A number of coded warnings were received at 10.13pm but they were "ambiguous and difficult to interpret" and it was too late to deactivate the device.

Deputy assistant commissioner Alan Fry, head of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Squad, claimed the bomb had been "well planned for some time". He added: "I regret to say that I have been warning for some time that while the activity since June 2000 has all been in London, it could happen anywhere."

He appealed for help from anyone who recognises the vehicle or who was at the scene of the explosion. Witnesses are asked to contact police on 0121 200 2552 or the anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321.

Birmingham was previously targeted in one of the IRA's worst mainland atrocities, when bombs ripped through two pubs in 1974, killing 21 people and injuring 162.