AS the city of Manchester attempted to get back to work yesterday, police confirmed that the truck bomb which devastated its main shopping area was the largest ever detonated in Britain and said they were optimistic that the bombers had been captured on security cameras.
The Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, Mr Colin Philips, said that forensic experts believed the bomb consisted of 1 1/2 tonnes of home made fertiliser mixed with Semtex and had been detonated with a timing device set to explode at 11.15 a.m. on Saturday, about two hours after police received a coded warning.
Mr Philips said that the initial investigation had revealed that a man with an Irish accent had bought the 7 1/2 tonne truck in Peterborough on Friday afternoon. The Irishman did not meet the owner of the truck and police believe he had never even seen the vehicle.
Instead, he hired a taxi driver to deliver £2,000 sterling in cash to the owner and requested that the truck be left unlocked with the keys under the seat in a commercial lorry park in Peterborough at 3 p.m.
Last night, police announced that they had traced the taxi driver. A Greater Manchester police spokeswoman said: "I can confirm that we have traced the taxi driver, but we are not saying anything further about it at this stage."
She could not say where the taxi driver was from, or whether he had contacted police in response to repeated appeals.
Earlier, Mr Philips said the taxi driver "could hold vital evidence as to the identity of the Irishman. What exactly happened to that vehicle after it was purchased we can only speculate. To load and prime that amount of material had to occur somewhere."
Although the IRA has not yet admitted responsibility for the explosion which caused over £100 million worth of damages and injured more than 200 people Det Supt Bernard Rees who is, leading the inquiry, said that the bomb bore all the hallmarks of the IRA. "There is the use of the code word, but there are also other factors that suggest it was the IRA", he said.
Last night, 13 of the injured, remained in hospital, including a woman who received 300 stitches to her face during a seven hour operation. "These injuries will leave life long scars", a hospital spokesman said.
After issuing video pictures which captured the moment the truck exploded, Mr Rees confirmed that one security camera had filmed it being parked at the bomb scene at 9.22 a.m. Just four minutes later, a traffic warden can be seen writing a ticket for the vehicle.
Despite Mr Rees's admission that this tape had not captured any of the truck's - occupants police were hopeful that they may have been filmed by one of the other 40 video cameras in the area.
A team of six officers will work around the clock examining all the video footage for clues. Police are also studying film from motorway security cameras between Peterborough and Manchester in an attempt to trace the vehicle's journey.
As the massive clean up operation began, businessmen predicted that the cost of renovating the centre of Manchester could exceed £100 million.
Mr Alan James, associate director of an independent firm of insurance assessors, said that if it was decided to pull down the Arndale Centre - which contains 200 shops - and took the main force of the blast - the rebuilding costs could be "several hundred million".
Mr Colin Wardale, a director of solicitors Addleshaw Sons and Latham, was allowed behind the police cordon to inspect his offices and said he was shocked at the extent of the damage. "We have two offices in the immediate area. One of them has been affected with broken windows, but we should hopefully be able to get back into that quite shortly. The other, however, was pretty close to the bomb blast and is very badly damaged. I could see other buildings in the area with all their windows out and a lot of cracked stonework - it was a real mess. I still don't think many people can believe what has happened" he said.
Police have informed the owners of businesses in the worst affected area that their premises will have to remain closed for about a week as forensic scientists continue their examination of the scene and surveyors check the structural condition of buildings.
In the wake of the Manchester bombing and amid intelligence reports that the IRA in Britain may be planning further attacks in London, a full scale security alert was in operation in the capital and police were checking vehicles entering the city.