The bomb near Piccadilly Circus was powerful enough to have caused “significant injury or loss of life,” British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said.

Britain’s new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, summoned top officials for an emergency meeting Friday, calling the attempted attack international terrorism.

Hours later, police closed a major road on the edge of Hyde Park following reports of a suspicious vehicle. Despite the closure of Park Lane, a police spokesman said there was nothing immediately to suggest it was linked to the earlier incident.

“We are currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism,” Smith told reporters after the emergency meeting. “This reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant to the threat we face at all times.”

Police were examining footage from closed circuit TV cameras in the area, Clarke said, hoping the surveillance network that covers much of central London will help them track down the driver of the Mercedes.

Officers were called to Haymarket, a busy road just south of Piccadilly Circus, after an ambulance crew _ responding to a call just before 1:30 a.m. (0030GMT) about a person who had fallen at a nearby nightclub _ noticed smoke coming from a car parked in front of the club, Clarke said.

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