UNITED KINGDOM (EmergencyNet News) - At least five people were fighting for their lives on Saturday morning after a nail bomb ripped through a crowded Soho bar in London, killing two people and wounding more than 70. A right-wing terror group on Friday night claimed it planted the device, which exploded without warning at 18:37 hours (London time) in the busy Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street at the heart of London's gay community, blowing limbs off victims and leaving dozens burnt and suffering from blast wounds.

A telephone caller claiming to be from the extremist White Wolves claimed responsibility two hours after the blast in a "garbled" message of a few words to a BBC radio station. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon said that the bomb, which was packed with nails, had been placed on the ground floor of the pub, next to the bar.

Doctors and medical staff at London hospitals have described some of the horrific injuries inflicted by the nail bomb. Louise Boden, chief nurse at University College Hospital, said: "They are the sort of injuries you would expect. Burns, lacerations, the trauma of being thrown about. When a bomb goes off, if it's near you it shreds flesh, it's pretty horrible really. People have serious lacerations, deep wounds and there are some serious burns."

Three patients were being treated in the intensive care unit at UCH. Two of then were described as "poorly." Two more victims were in the intensive care unit at UCH's sister hospital, the Middlesex, both of whom were described as "critical." Dr Chris Lacy, accident and emergency consultant at St Thomas's Hospital, said staff were "extremely shocked" by some of the injuries they were having to treat. Lacy said: "We have blast injuries, there are torn limbs and shattered limbs and we also have the injuries from the flash part of the bomb which has burned patients."

Asked to compare the severity of the bomb with the nail bomb in Brixton, Lacy said: "This seems more serious, the injuries are more serious than the casualties we received a week ago."

At St Thomas's Hospital one patient was in the intensive care unit, three were recovering from overnight surgery, and three had been admitted to wards. Two of the blast victims taken to St Thomas's were said to be "critical."

Three people had been transferred from London hospitals to specialist burns units outside the capital, two were taken to Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, Essex, and one to East Grinstead, in Sussex. One person was being treated for less serious burns at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Four patients were kept in overnight at the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, east London, with fairly minor injuries.

Forensic scientists and anti-terrorist squad officers worked through the night at the scene of the blast, and police were trying to establish whether there were any CCTV cameras in the area that may have captured the bomber on film. Detectives were linking the attack to the two previous nail bombings which caused widespread injury in the past two weekends aimed at the capital's ethnic minority areas of Brixton and Brick Lane.

It emerged that gays in London had been warned to be on their guard against a similar attack on their community. Police visited pubs in the area warning landlords and drinkers to be vigilant and Condon said that officers are believed to have visited the Admiral Duncan.

The blast came on the day that two men were arrested following the release of video footage showing a man, identified as a prime suspect, walking around the streets of Brixton in the hours before the bombing. One was released on bail but the other, a man in his early 20s from southeast London, remained in custody at a central London police station.

Later it was reported that British police arrested four people in connection with the three nail bomb attacks and found explosives at a suspect's home. A police spokesman said the explosives were found in a 02:00 hour (01:00 GMT) search on a home in Cove outside London about eight hours after the explosion in Soho.

The group that is now under close police scrutiny is called the "White Wolves." The White Wolves consist of a shady band of neo-nazis who broke away from Combat 18 - one of Britain's most notorious extremist groups. Even more fanatical and willing to resort to violence than Combat 18, they probably number no more than half a dozen people.

The group telephoned the BBC on Friday night claiming responsibility for the Soho nail bombing. If the White Wolves did plant the bomb which exploded without warning in the Admiral Duncan pub - and presumably the previous devices in Brixton and Brick Lane - they must be regarded as the most dangerous handful of individuals at large in Britain.

The White Wolves named themselves after a Serbian terrorist group which has been targeting Albanians in Kosovo. In recent weeks, up to 25 members of London's Jewish community, as well as people from black and Asian communities have received identical stencilled death threats from the group.

Issued by the White Wolves "high command" they read: "Notice is hereby given that all non-whites (defined by blood, not religion) must permanently leave the British Isles before the year is out. Jews and non-whites who remain after 1999 has ended will be exterminated. When the clocks strike midnight on the 31st of December 1999 the White Wolves will begin to howl and when the Wolves begin to howl the Wolves begin to hunt. You have been warned. Hail Britannia."

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