Seven injured in west London car bomb

Dissident Republican groups are suspected of planting a car bomb that exploded at midnight in a busy west London street, injuring six people, though none seriously.

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Dissident Republican groups are suspected of planting a car bomb that exploded at midnight in a busy west London street, injuring seven people, though none seriously.

People were seen lying on the ground injured by flying glass following the explosion close to the London Underground station at Ealing Broadway. Scotland Yard said a warning had been received but it gave imprecise details, and so the area had not been cleared before the explosion close to the Townhouse pub.

The area, full of shops, pubs and clubs, was busy with people at the time of the explosion. Police officers had started to cordon off the area for a search at the time of the blast, which was heard a mile away.

Immediate suspicion fell on hardline republicans for the blast, which came a day after the release of the long-awaited blueprint to try to save the Good Friday agreement.

Tony Blair was being kept updated about events while on his official visit to Mexico. "He believes violence of any kind is both wrong and pointless," his official spokesman said. "His sympathy is with the injured but he believes that the way forward in Northern Ireland can only be through dialogue."

Seven people were taken to Ealing hospital but none was seriously hurt, and three were released without being held overnight

The car carrying the 40 kilograms of homemade explosives was a grey Saab 9000 turbo five-door saloon with the registration E304 HPY. Police are keen to know anything about the movements of the car over the last few days. Anyone with information should call 0800 789321.

Jagpreet Sidhu, 22, a student from south-east London, saw the bomb go off. He said: "I felt a huge shock wave then literally saw a roll of flame coming towards us. All the shop windows smashed. We ducked and were thrown to the floor."

Another witness, Simon Offer, said: "I ran out and people were running up the street. Some people were on the floor, some were having panic attacks. These were people who had been caught up in the explosion. There were a lot of people around. This area is very busy on a Thursday night.

"The police started to move people back and gave a warning that there could be a secondary device."

Boo Abbas, 43, was in a restaurant 200 yards from the blast. He said: "Everything shook and I felt the wind through my hair and the vibration. I knew immediately it must be a bomb, it was terrifying. The windows shook."

Another witness, Alan Joyce, was drinking in a pub near the scene of the blast. "It was near closing time at the pub and 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." The area was cordoned off as police feared there could have been a second device in the area.

A year ago, police safely detonated a bomb outside the same station, believed to have been planted by a dissident Irish group. The blast at Ealing Broadway follows a spate of attacks in London. The Real IRA, who planted the Omagh bomb which killed 29, were believed to have been behind the attacks and an active unit was suspected to be operating in the capital.