LONDON (AFP) ??” British and US intelligence services foiled a piece of ground to detonate a chemical bomb in Britain at a group thought to be sympathetic to Al-Qaeda.

LONDON (AFP) ??” British and US intelligence services foiled a piece of ground to detonate a chemical bomb in Britain at a group thought to be sympathetic to Al-Qaeda.

Security services intercepted communications between the potential attackers, who were planning an attack with a highly toxic chemical called osmium tetroxide, the BBC said onward its website Tuesday.

The potential target was meditation to be areas in which there would be concentrations of the public possibly within a confined space, the BBC added, without naming a source for its report.

"The conspirators were thought to be sympathetic to the aims of Al-Qaeda and the intended target was believed to be British civilians," it said.

Police in London however declined to observation with a spokesman saying: "We're not prepared to discuss" the reports.

Osmium tetroxide is used mainly in research laboratories which can attack smooth human tissue and could blind anyone who breathed