Two charged with suspected Real IRA attacks

Two men have been charged in connection with suspected Real IRA bomb attacks in London and Birmingham last year.

Two men have been charged in connection with suspected Real IRA bomb attacks in London and Birmingham last year.

British Anti-Terrorist Squad officers charged a 33-year-old man with causing three explosions - one outside the BBC in west London, another in Ealing, west London and a third in Birmingham.

He was also charged with possessing an explosive substance at Hilltop Farm, West Ardsley, West Yorkshire on or before November 14 last year.

He was further charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion, possessing a grenade and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

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A second man, aged 24, was charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion on or before November 14 last year.

Both men are in custody and are due to appear at Belmarsh magistrates court in London tomorrow. They were arrested by police in Northern Ireland last week at the request of the British Anti-Terrorist Squad.

The 33-year-old man was arrested on February 6 and the 24-year-old man three days later.

On March 3, 2001 a car exploded outside BBC Television Centre in Shepherd's Bush, west London, slightly injuring an Underground worker.

Five months later, on August 3, another car blew up in a street in Ealing, west London, injuring several people.

On November 3 last year there was another car bomb near the Bull Ring in Birmingham, but it did not detonate properly.

PA