'Tube flood plan' to kill thousands

A terror plot to detonate a bomb inside a Tube tunnel beneath the Thames has been uncovered by MI5 chiefs, it was reported yesterday.

The explosion would pierce the bed of the river, leaving tens of thousands of rush- hour commuters to be drowned or trampled underfoot in the panic as people tried to flee.

Blueprints for an attack on the Underground and maps of the tunnels were reported to have been discovered a t an al- Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, a Sunday newspaper reported. It is the latest in a series of terror scares.

Last week, reports suggested Heathrow airport was a target of Islamic fundamentalists.

Security has been stepped up at the entrances to the hundreds of miles of Tube tunnels stretching underneath London. Anti-terror chiefs recently highlighted that the radio systems of some emergency services do not work in the deepest Tube stations.

Richard Barnes, deputy chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: 'Radio incompatibility could be a matter of life and death.'

Transport for London, which is responsible for the Tube, said it was working closely with the police to ensure security systems were up to date. Its spokesman added: 'Our radios and the British Transport Police's radios do work in the deepest tunnels.

'We are also working on a new system called Connect to improve communications technology in two years.

'In the interim, our radios and the British Transport Police radios would be used in any such terrorist incident.'