Brace yourself for terror campaign police chief warns

A senior British Metropolitan Police officer today warned that further terrorist bomb attacks on Britain were likely in the run-up to the general election.

Assistant Commissioner David Veness said he feared ‘‘we will have worse to come’’ from the Real IRA and other Irish dissident groups following the election announcement.

He warned the public to be vigilant in the weeks leading up to June 7

He said: ‘‘If we look at events which began in June of last year with relatively small bombs, we have seen the deployment of a rocket propelled grenade in central London.

‘‘We have seen other bombs which are in public places without any form of warning.

‘‘To use high explosive in any public place in London on any day of the week, at any hour is reckless as to causing injury or death to members of the public.

‘‘So I fear we will have worse to come. The risk of a car bomb is always present and that is always a very considerable danger to the public.

‘‘That is why we are warning the public and that is why we as the police are being as active as we are in relation to prevention activity.’’

At the weekend a bomb blast injured one person at a postal depot in Hendon, north London.

It was the second blast at the depot in a matter of weeks. Six weeks earlier a car bomb exploded at BBC Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush, west London.

All three bombs are thought to be the work of the Real IRA.