BRITISH anti terrorist officers defused a device in central London after receiving several "unspecific" coded telephone calls yesterday. The device was discovered within hours of the IRA warning that the Docklands' bomb was not a "one off".
The "small" device was planted in a telephone box outside 67 Charing Cross Road, near the junction with Shaftesbury Avenue, the heart of London's theatre district. It was found by a police officer and immediately defused. Scotland Yard refused to comment on the exact size of the bomb.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said several coded warnings had been received, claiming to be from the IRA, but they had refused to give any specific details of the location of the device. It was examined for forensic evidence and bore "all the hallmarks of the IRA."
Police officers cordoned off a square mile of the West End of London, including Piccadilly Circus, Pall Mall and Oxford Street, for more than four hours to search the area for further devices.
"After a series of coded warnings shortly after 12.30 p.m., in which no specific location was given, anti terrorist officers made safe a device in the Shaftesbury Avenue area. We erred on the side of caution and the area remained cordoned off for several hours as the security checks continued. Officers checked all suspicious vehicles and packages in the area, the spokesman said.
The Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said the security of the people in Britain and Northern Ireland was paramount following the end of the ceasefire. "The security forces have taken prudent and proper steps." She had earlier met the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Annesley.
Office workers, tourists band shoppers had to leave the area while officers searched for the device, and matinee performances of several West End shows were cancelled.
One eyewitness, Mr John Burton, a trainee manager of a public house on the corner of Charing Cross Road, said: "At one o'clock we heard a small explosion. About 15 to 20 minutes later we heard another explosion and then we heard there was an actual bomb in the telephone box along the road.
"A police officer said they had defused it but they had heard there could be another package in the area."
Following the breakdown of the ceasefire, fears of a second IRA bomb in Britain, or of an assassination attempt on a senior public figure, have prompted police forces from across the country and other security services to organise a meeting next week to review anti terrorist measures and intelligence on IRA suspects.