Blast Rocks London Club Frequented by Tories

A bomb exploded Monday evening in an exclusive social club in downtown London frequented by members of the ruling Conservative Party. Nine people were injured, one seriously, authorities said.

The victims of the blast at the Carlton Club included Lord Kaberry, 82, a member of the House of Lords, his wife said. Two tourists from New York, Alexander Kahan, 62, and his wife, Jane, 49, suffered minor cuts from flying glass.

“Two seconds further along the road and we could have been killed,” Kahan said.

The bomb, containing 10 to 15 pounds of high explosives, was planted just inside the door of the 158-year-old club, said George Churchill-Coleman, head of Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad. The club has long been considered one of the most venerable symbols of the British Establishment.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on the Irish Republican Army, which has been waging a new terror campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.

“It brings a new dimension to the campaign, and I must warn the public in general that these people are determined to cause injury and maim,” said Churchill-Coleman, clearly alluding to the IRA. “Everyone must be on their guard.”

The bombers struck at one of the most popular meeting places for Cabinet ministers, lawmakers and other members of the governing Conservative Party.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, an honorary member of the exclusive men’s club, called the attack “one more outrage in a catalog of terrorist inhumanity.”

“Whoever is responsible stands condemned of total and callous disregard for human life, both within the club and among passers-by,” she said in Dublin, Ireland, where she was attending a European Community summit. “These people are prepared to bomb and maim others indiscriminately for their own perverted satisfaction.”

It was the worst attack on a Conservative Party target since 1984, when an IRA bomb narrowly missed Thatcher in a hotel in the seaside resort of Brighton.

The explosion occurred at 8:40 p.m. on the first floor of the club, which is near Trafalgar Square and a few hundred yards from Buckingham Palace