3rd Victim of London Pub Blast Dies

A third victim of a blast at a gay pub in London died Saturday as police continued their search for neo-Nazis who have claimed responsibility for a spate of bombings. One suspect was detained after explosive material was found in his home.

London was in a state of tense alert with a heavy police presence in subways, shopping areas and ethnic neighborhoods. Residents said they feared going to restaurants and pubs because--unlike in the days of Irish Republican Army bombings--these explosions came without warning and were timed to claim as many victims as possible.

More than 1,000 demonstrators marched through central London to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office, chanting, “We stand against racism,” and urging the government to outlaw neo-Nazi groups such as the White Wolves, which has claimed responsibility for three bombings since April 17.

The first blast was in the African-Caribbean Brixton neighborhood and the second in Brick Lane, home to a large Bangladeshi community.

The nail bomb explosion at a crowded gay pub in the trendy Soho district Friday evening wounded about 65 people, five of whom were still fighting for their lives, police said.

About eight hours after the blast, police raided a house in Cove, 30 miles southwest of London, where they said they confiscated a stash of “combustible materials.” A 20-year-old man taken into custody reportedly looked like a man videotaped at the site of the Brixton bombing.

The picture of a young white male in a baseball cap had been captured on closed-circuit television cameras and was widely publicized in the media.

Police Commissioner Paul Condon declined to give details of the arrest, saying police were “at a sensitive stage of the inquiry.”

All three attacks are linked, according to police. The bombs used were “crude and unsophisticated” devices loaded with shrapnel, said Assistant Police Commissioner David Veness.

Police believe that they are dealing with small cells of no more than half a dozen violent racists who may be acting on their own.

The White Wolves, which wants Britain to be an all-white society, is believed to be an offshoot of the neo-Nazi organization Combat 18, which also claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Combat 18 takes its name from Adolf Hitler’s initials--1 for A and 8 for H--and is thought to be made up of scores of renegades from the right-wing British National Party. Two of the group’s leaders are serving prison sentences for murder; several others have appeared in court on charges of inciting racial hatred.

Several black members of Parliament, prominent Jews and one of Britain’s largest Asian newspapers have reported receiving threatening letters signed by the White Wolves, which takes its name from a Nazi military unit. The group also has produced a 15-page manifesto, with instructions for orchestrating a bombing campaign, that was faxed to a radio station a week before the Brixton blast.

The White Wolves’ hate literature has warned all “nonwhites” and Jews to leave Britain by Dec. 31 or face “extermination.” The group said, “We do not believe that alone we can win the race war, but we can start it.”

The government has pledged a national campaign to fight racism, but Home Secretary Jack Straw warned against hasty legislation to ban extremist groups, saying it could drive them further underground.

Blair is to speak to an international convention of Sikhs in Birmingham today at which he will appeal for the country to unite against the bombers and to create “one nation--Britain.”