Bomb explodes in coach outside hotel

An explosion rocked the centre of Hammersmith in west London early this morning.

A bomb is believed to have gone off just before 1am in a motor coach parked outside a hotel, the Novotel, in Shortlands. Anti- Terrorist Squad officers went to the scene. The road is next to the Hammersmith fly-over, carrying traffic from central London on the busy A4.

The London Fire Brigade said there were no casualties and all the hotel guests were accounted for. The area was cordoned off for a quarter of a mile around the hotel.

Scotland Yard said that the blast caused minor damage to the coach. There was no warning.

London has been targeted by IRA bombers several times this month.

Last Monday an explosion at the Sussex, a Covent Garden public house, injured five people. David Heffer, a nurse aged 30, who took the force of the blast, died in University College Hospital the next night. The IRA admitted they planted the bomb.

The week before four bombs went off. On 7 October two caused traffic chaos in central London. The first exploding in a litter bin in Panton Street near Piccadilly Circus, injuring five people slightly.

Another went off later in Flitcroft Street, near Charing Cross Road, hurting no one.

The next day a blast outside the London Dungeon museum in Tooley Street, slightly injured a police officer.

There were no injuries in the second explosion, in Melcombe Street, Marylebone.