Letter bomb explodes in London

[MrBishop]

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- A letter bomb exploded at the offices of Capita Group Plc, the company that runs London's traffic- charging system, on the same road as the U.K.'s Scotland Yard police headquarters, police said.

The incident occurred on Victoria Street, less than 200 yards from the police building. A female member of staff at Capita was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, police said.

``I saw the woman led out of the building and she looked in a very shocking state,'' hairdresser Rosie Somani, who works at a nearby salon, said in a telephone interview. ``She had bandages on her hands and on her chest but she was able to walk.''

The road was closed and police explosives experts examined the remains of the device. Victoria Street leads past Scotland Yard to the Houses of Parliament and is the location of the main offices of the Department of Trade and Industry. Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command is investigating the attack.

The country's terrorist threat level, which is set by the Government's Joint Terrorism Analysis Center, stands at ``severe,'' the second highest of five ratings, which means an attack is considered highly likely.

``We are not in a position to discuss who may or may not be responsible at this stage,'' police said in an e-mailed statement. The explosion was reported at 9.40 a.m. local time.

Capita didn't answer calls from Bloomberg News.

``All I would say to people in London is if they have any suspicions to phone police in the normal way,'' Chief Superintendent Ian Thomas said in a televised interview outside the Capita building.

Government Contracts

Capita, the U.K.'s biggest supplier of administration services, was formed in 1984 and has over 26,000 staff in the U.K., the British Channel Islands, Ireland and India, according to the company's Web site. Last year, the company announced a 120 million pound ($235 million) contract with the Department of Trade and Industry and a 132 million pound contract with the British Broadcasting Corporation. Its clients also include the Criminal Records Bureau.

The so-called congestion charge, which is levied on vehicles traveling in central London during the day, will be extended this month to the west of the capital, taking in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Last March Rod Aldridge resigned as chairman of Capita, saying the company's reputation was being questioned because of a personal decision he made to lend money to Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party. Suggestions that his one million pound loan had resulted in the group being awarded government contracts were ``entirely spurious,'' Aldridge said at the time.

Bloomberg

 

[Gonz]

Arab or Irish?

 

[BB]

I'm suprised it even got delivered ...

when was it sent - the 1970's?

bloody congestion chargin! - forgot to pay one meself, onetime ... bah!

(this is not to say one should send them bombs tho' .... )

 

[MrBishop]

The second letter bomb in as many days exploded in England Tuesday, injuring two people at a business office.

Police and paramedics responded at about 2:30 p.m. to reports of a small explosion at Vantis PLC, a tax and accounting services firm in Berkshire, southern England.

Two male employees in their 30s suffered injuries to their hands and upper body in the explosion, but they were not considered serious injuries and the workers did not require hospital treatment, ambulance spokespeople said.

Army bomb-disposal units raced to the business park of red-brick offices and found 14 evacuees waiting outside.

Police cordoned off the area while investigators combed the property.

A spokesman for Vantis said the package had not been addressed to the company.

Kaboom2

 

[Inkara1]

Guess you no longer need to go online for hotmail.

 

[MrBishop]

Guess you no longer need to go online for hotmail.

Boo Hiss Boo!

 

[MrBishop]

Arab or Irish?

Most likely, neither.

Police chiefs issued a public warning over the letter bomb campaign today as they revealed that seven explosive devices have been posted in the last three weeks.

The Association of Chief Police Officers also revealed that detectives have established a link between three of the devices.

They are thought to be the three letter bomb attacks in consecutive days this week on motoring related companies in Swansea, London and Berkshire.

The latest blast happened at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s main centre in Swansea this morning and left three women injured.

It raised fears that an enraged motorist is waging a letter bomb campaign against traffic enforcement organisations across the country.

Probably WASP

 

[Gonz]

Finally, some new group to attack.