Forensic team finish investigation of Ealing bomb site

Scotland Yard says that forensic scientists have concluded their search of the scene of the Ealing bombing.

The cordon will be lifted later today once a safety check of the area had been completed by council surveyors, a spokesman said.

A tight cordon had been kept around the scene of the blast since the early hours of Friday morning when a car bomb went off near pubs and bars in the bustling Ealing Broadway area of west London.

Two victims of the blast remain in hospital, 10 residents are staying in hotels and up to 50 properties are still without electricity.

Council officials said surveyors needed to check buildings, cables and pipes at the scene but added that initial assessments had not found any buildings which needed to be demolished because of structural damage.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said forensic scientists decided last night that they had gathered all the information they needed from the scene.

He said the cordon would be lifted later today and the road through Ealing Broadway would reopen.

He added a small area would remain cordoned off around where the bomb itself exploded.

Over the weekend the community was beginning the slow task of returning the area to normality.

On Sunday around 100 people gathered to pray for those injured in the explosion.