A recovery truck exits police cordon with one of the vehicles damaged in Thursday's blast in Upper Woburn Place in central London yesterday. The three bombs that ripped through London underground trains this week went off almost simultaneously, police said yesterday, making it more likely they were detonated by timers rather than suicide bombers. A fourth bomb that blew up a bus almost an hour later was probably left in a bag and not triggered by a suicide bomber, they added. - REUTERSLONDON, (Reuters): POLICE SAID yesterday they were evacuating thousands of people from the centre of Birmingham, Britain's second city, after receiving intelligence of a threat.
The security alert came two days after bombings by suspected Islamist militants that killed more than 50 people
in London.
"West Midlands police ... are now closing down the Broad Street entertainment zone and asking people to leave Birmingham town centre and go home," a police spokesman said.
"Our inquiries are ongoing. We're not going into the nature of the threat ... Clearly we're taking it quite seriously."
He estimated up to 30,000 people could be in the area being cleared, which is packed with nightclubs, bars and restaurants.
No arrests had been made, the spokesman said. "What we're talking about is warning the public and making sure
people are safe."
REPEATED SECURITY ALERTS
London has seen repeated security alerts since Thursday's attacks on underground trains and a bus, and police have warned the bombers may still be at large and could strike again.
Police initially restricted road traffic into the city centre, but then ordered an evacuation after receiving further intelligence, a police spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity. She estimated there were nearly 200 bars and clubs in the Broad Street entertainment district.
Birmingham, 110 miles north-west of London, was the target of one of the worst Irish Republican Army bombings of the 1970s. Twenty-one people died when the IRA bombed two pubs on November
21, 1974.
