A bomb exploded near the BBC television center in London

In London tonight, one person was injured in a bomb explosion that occurred near the BBC television center, reports Reuters. Now the London police are working at the scene of the incident, and, according to the first statements of representatives of the special services, the bomb was planted in a taxi near the television center, and Irish extremists carried out the terrorist attack.

“The police knew that an explosion would occur and tried to defuse the bomb. But this failed, and at about half past twelve in the morning local time there was an explosion, which local residents call “the most powerful,” a Reuters correspondent reports.

According to police representatives, they received information about the impending explosion “in the form of an encrypted telephone call” from their agents in one of the groups that broke away from the Irish Republican Army “and considers itself the real IRA.”

The damage from the explosion, according to news agencies, was insignificant: the facade of the BBC television center was damaged and a London Underground employee who was located near the scene of the incident was slightly injured. There was no one at all in the television center at the time of the explosion: all the people were evacuated from there immediately after it became known that a bomb had been planted near the building.

"I link this attack to other similar incidents that have occurred in London over the past year, and I believe that they were carried out by splinter groups of the IRA. I believe today's bombing was carried out by a group that calls itself the 'Real Irish Republican Army,'" Alan said. Fry, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism unit.

Representatives of the IRA themselves have not yet commented on the events in London, but they previously stated that they had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks and could not be responsible for those people who broke away from the main organization.

The standoff between the London authorities and Irish republicans, who want to separate Northern Ireland from Great Britain, lasted for more than 30 years, from the 1960s until 1998, when the IRA and the British government signed a ceasefire.

“Meanwhile, according to police representatives, the explosion is very similar to the incident at Yealing Broadway railway station last year,” reports a Reuters correspondent. “The explosive device was then defused because the intelligence services were warned about it, and an encrypted message was transmitted to the authorities at that time, it was the same as now."

In addition, two weeks ago, a similar incident occurred near the television center, at a military base of the British army: then, as a result of the terrorist attack, one cadet was wounded, the agency reports.