From Reuters, with thanks to Mike:
LONDON (Reuters) – Security services have thwarted a planned attack on London similar to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid by Islamic extremists, the British capital’s police chief said on Thursday.
“Thank God to date, and we have had to work extremely hard, we’ve thwarted attacks,” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens told the BBC.
Asked if his force had stopped a strike on the scale of the Spanish attack, he added: “Yes, I can’t discuss it because of court proceedings — but yes we have stopped a Madrid.”
The morning rush-hour bombings on commuter trains killed 191 people in the most devastating attack in modern Spanish history, just three days before a general election.
The attackers claimed to represent al Qaeda in Europe.
Stevens said “a number” of attacks had been thwarted in London and “hundreds” of terrorist suspects were being processed in British courts, according to extracts on the BBC Web site.
He would not give any details.