A FAMILY in Gorey, Co Wexford, is understood to have been informed by gardai that the young man killed in the IRA bomb explosion on a London bus was their son.
In London, anti terrorist officers discovered a "significant" amount of Semtex and bomb making equipment following several raids yesterday.
Gardai are understood to have told Mr Miley O'Brien, of Gorey, that the man killed on the bus in central London on Sunday night is believed to be his son, Edward (21).
Mr Edward O'Brien is understood to have been in Britain for at least two years and friends believed he had recently been working in Glasgow. Relatives gathered in the family home last night.
London police said yesterday Mr Brendan Woolhead, the young, Dublin man who suffered head, leg and shoulder injuries in the bus explosion, was an innocent victim of the blast.
A police guard which had been placed on a ward at St Thomas's Hospital, where the bomb victims were taken on Monday morning, was removed at lunchtime yesterday.
"There is no evidence to suggest any involvement by any of those people recovering in hospital and so the security measures have been lifted," said a Scotland Yard spokesman.
Mrs Wilma MacPherson, acting chief executive at St Thomas's, said the young man and his family were very upset by the incident.
Members of Mr Woolhead's family, who live in Finglas, north Dublin, flew out to visit him in hospital.
In London, Commander John Grieve, head of the anti terrorist squad, said there had been no arrests and refused to state where the explosives had been found.
"We have recovered a significant amount of explosives and bomb making equipment. Inquiries and forensic evidence gathering are continuing."
Police believe the explosives were to be used in bomb attacks similar to the IRA bus bomb on Sunday and the device detonated by anti terrorist officers last week after being found in a telephone box on Charing Cross Road.
Scotland Yard refused to discuss the details of the find but it is understood to include several kilos of Semtex, timers and wires.
Police believe the occupants of the houses were forced to abandon their "factories" following the explosion.
A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that two English men, arrested in south London on Monday, were released without charge.