It could have been much worse:
COPS FOIL AL-QAEDA DIRTY BOMB OUTRAGE
Apr 17 2005
Plot to devastate General Election
Exclusive By Barry Wigmore And Euan Stretch
POLICE have foiled an al-Qaeda plot to bring chaos to the General Election with a radioactive "dirty bomb".
They believe targets included Westminster Abbey, the Heathrow Express, the London Underground, pubs, railway stations and sports stadiums. An un-named synagogue was mentioned - and so was the idea of hijacking a petrol tanker to smash it into a building.
A dirty bomb is radioactive material wrapped around a core of high explosive. It would not lead to a nuclear explosion, but could turn a large area of a town into a radioactive wasteland for decades.
The plot was discovered as a result of close co-operation between British, American, and Pakistani security services and a year-long surveillance operation.
American reports say British police found a cache of household smoke detectors which it is believed terrorists wanted to cannibalise for the radioactive chemical americium-241 that they contain.
Terrorism experts say that exploding even a small amount of radioactive material in a crowded underground station or sports stadium would trigger sensitive radiation sensors, causing panic and probably many deaths in the crowds and long-lasting contamination.
The bomb plan was just one of several plots uncovered by the investigation.
Former US Attorney General John Ashcroft referred to it in a recent interview with Newsweek magazine.
-METROPOLITAN Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair today called for new laws and technology like ID cards to help track terror suspects.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/t...name_page.html