A car has exploded in the central English city of Birmingham and police said they believed guerrillas opposed to the Northern Irish peace process were responsible.
Police said there had been no serious injuries but added that some police officers in the vicinity of the blast may have received minor injuries.
Police spokeswoman Ellie Bird said that early indications suggested that the blast, which occurred near the city's main rail station, was linked to an Irish dissident group opposed to the peace process in Northern Ireland.
She said the explosion took place in area containing crowded night-clubs and cinemas.
"We did receive a warning, however that warning was given far too late for us to take any positive action," Bird told the Reuters press agency.
"We're concerned that this could have had serious consequences but thankfully we can confirm there have been no serious injuries and obviously we are conducting a thorough investigation into that immediate vicinity now," she said.
Bird said that the explosion had happened in the heart of England's second city. The area had been evacuated as soon as police had been able to get officers to the scene and remained cordoned off, she said.
Bird said the explosion was not connected to the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The explosion came just hours after Northern Irish politicians found a way to rescue the British-ruled province's peace process.
The process had been thrown into disarray when Protestant leader David Trimble recently failed to be re-elected as first minister of Northern Ireland's power-sharing devolved government.
Trimble will get a second chance to return as head of Northern Ireland's government after pro-peace pact parties struck a deal aimed at outmanoeuvring his hardline opponents.
Dissident Irish republicans opposed to the peace process have been blamed for previous bomb attacks in Northern Ireland and Britain.
The real IRA group, which refused to accept a 1998 peace accord in Northern Ireland, carried the province's worst single atrocity that year when a car bomb killed 29 people in Omagh. In March, 2001, a car bomb rocked BBC television headquarters in west London and a north London postal centre was targeted twice in separate attacks in April and May.
© Reuters
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