Car Bomb Found in London 20 Days After al Qaeda Suicide Bomber 'Graduation Ceremony'

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Car Bomb Found in London 20 Days After al Qaeda Suicide Bomber 'Graduation Ceremony'

June 29, 2007 7:02 AM

Brian Ross Reports:

London_mercedes_main The discovery of a massive car bomb set to detonate in central London comes just three weeks after what was described as an al Qaeda graduation ceremony of suicide bomb teams to be dispatched to Europe and the United States.

A videotape obtained by ABC News from a Pakistani journalist shows groups of dozens of men al Qaeda says have gone through a terror training camp somewhere in Pakistan.

Photos: Inside the al Qaeda 'Graduation'

Teams of 50 to 60 men were supposedly dispatched to the United States, Canada, Germany and Great Britain.

Abc_aqtaliban_british_logo_070618_s On the tape, the leader of the British team speaks of the mission in broken English, "Let me say something about why we are going along with my team to tell a suicide attack in Britain."

That was just 20 days ago, and the existence of the tape first reported by ABC News put British and German security experts on edge.

It was also just last year that al Qaeda operative, Dhiren Barot, was convicted in a London court of planning suicide attacks in London and the U.S., using limousines and other vehicles, not unlike the bomb-rigged silver Mercedes discovered in London this morning.

Based on the early sketchy details, the car bomb was potentially powerful but relatively crude.

The great concern now is that if it is an al Qaeda operation, something that is still not known, but if it is, there would likely be other vehicle bombs in the works.

Today British officials are continuing a program begun earlier this month to check gas and chemical trucks, cement trucks and limousines and all vehicles coming and going from the famed Wimbledon tennis tournament now underway outside London.