The bomb that partially detonated on the Parsons Green Tube train was packed with explosives and shrapnel, the head of Scotland Yard revealed today.
Met Commissioner Cressida Dick said the impact of the bomb could have been far worse if it had exploded fully rather than partially detonated on the rush hour train last Friday.
At least 30 people were injured when the home made device detonated and sent a “wall of flame” through the carriage of the District Line train. The majority of people suffered burn injuries but no-one was seriously hurt.
Today Ms Dick said: “That was a very, very dangerous bomb, it partially detonated but it had a large quantity of explosives and it was packed with shrapnel. It could have been so much worse.”
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, she said : “Thank goodness no-one was killed at Parsons Green though it must have been absolutely horrific for the people on the train.”
She also praised the “wonderful response” from the emergency services adding that heavily armed officers were at the scene within minutes.
The Commissioner also revealed that the Met and the security services had foiled six terror attacks in recent months, some of them minutes away from taking place.
She said the attacks had come at a time when the Met was also facing government cutbacks and battling a rise in violent crime in London and a rise in the number of emergency calls.
The force was under “huge strain” she said, adding : “We will have to make some hard choices in the future.”
She said: “In the long run, if we continue with this level of threat, which is what people are predicting… this is not sustainable for my police service”
Her comments came as counter terror detectives are continuing to question four people, including a 17-year-old boy, in connection with the Parsons Green attack.
Two men, a 48-year-old man arrested in Newport on Wednesday, and a 21-year-old man - understood to be Yahya Farroukh - arrested on Saturday, have been released with no further action, Scotland Yard said.
Searches at an address in Surrey, one in Thornton Heath and two in Newport were continuing.
Officers searching the Thornton Heath property, where the 17-year-old was arrested, appeared to be clearing an overgrown garden at the rear of the house with tools including garden shears.
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