London: Armed police in bomb swoop

Armed police launched a major operation today in a residential area of west London.

Officers carrying machine guns and wearing gas masks moved in and a loud explosion was reported in the Ladbroke Grove area.

Witnesses said the police swooped at 11.30am and sealed off Tavistock Road and the adjoining crescent.

Tavistock Road runs close to Westbourne Park Tube station where the man who attempted to blow himself up on a train near Shepherd’s Bush on July 21 got on to the network.

Steve Ullathorn, 42, a photographer who lives in Tavistock Road, said: “There are two police men with machine guns and gas masks on Tavistock Road. Two of them are stationed outside my house and the roads are completely closed.”