Suspected car bomb explodes in west London, injuring six

A suspected car bomb exploded in Ealing, west London, shortly before midnight last night, injuring six people and causing substantial…

A suspected car bomb exploded in Ealing, west London, shortly before midnight last night, injuring six people and causing substantial damage.

Metropolitan Police confirmed a coded bomb warning was received before the explosion, which happened about 100 m from Ealing Broadway Underground station near The Townhouse pub, on Uxbridge Road. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman would not say whether it believed dissident republicans were responsible.

A spokeswoman for Ealing Hospital said there were six casualties. "There are five males and one female. Two of them were walking wounded and two have head injuries, but none of them have any life-threatening injuries at the moment," she said.

The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, who is in Mexico on an official visit, was being kept informed of the situation.

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His spokesman said: "His sympathy is with the injured, but he believes that the way forward in Northern Ireland can only be through dialogue".

The area where the bomb exploded is a popular late-night destination. At about 11.50 p.m., police began evacuating people from premises close to the station. Eyewitnesses said that about 10 minutes later they heard a large blast close to a branch of the Body Shop on Uxbridge Road.

The explosion blew out the windows of nearby properties. Eyewitnesses said the wreckage of a car could be seen nearby. Police widened the cordon around the station amid fears of a second device. Most of those injured were said to be suffering minor cuts from broken glass.

Mr Alan Joyce was at a pub close to the scene of the explosion: "It took me off my chair. I ran outside the pub to see what happened and there were 70 or 80 girls and guys just running up the street and the whole place was in chaos," he told Sky News.

Student Mr Jagpreet Sidhu (22) saw the bomb go off: "I felt a huge shockwave then literally saw a roll of flame coming towards us. All the shop windows smashed. We ducked and were thrown to the floor."

The SDLP chairman, Mr Alex Attwood, said the bombing was "very disturbing".

He added: "There are clearly people who are determined to cause maximum damage to the peace process at a time when there are so many efforts being made to try and sustain that process."

The Ulster Unionist MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson said the bombing was "a timely reminder that the government must not drop its guard on security.

"I would therefore call on the Prime Minister to urgently review the proposals that were made this week and establish security precautions to protect the citizens of the United Kingdom from this growing terrorist threat."