|
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Four "explosions or attempts at explosions" have hit three London Underground stations and a bus two weeks after the July 7 terror attacks, the city's police chief has said. Thursday's small blasts came two weeks to the day since bombs on three Tube trains on a bus killed 52 people and four of the bombers. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said the situation was "absolutely under control." He told reporters there had been "one confirmed casualty and that is not a fatality." "We know that we've had four explosions or attempts at explosions. It is still pretty unclear as to what's happened. "The bombs appear to be smaller than on the last occasion but we don't know the implications of all this yet and we're going to have to examine the scene very carefully. "The explosions were pretty close to being simultaneous but it will take time to fully extablish that," Blair added. At a news conference Prime Minister Tony Blair praised the police operation and urged Londoners to remain calm. "We know why these things are done. They're done to scare people and to frighten them, to make them anxious and worried. And fortunately, in this instance, there appear to have been no casualties," he said. Blair, who referred questions on operations to police and emergency services, told reporters: "Police and security services are pretty clear about what's happened. ... The police have done their very best and the security services, too, in this situation. And I think we just have got to react calmly and continue with our business as much as possible as normal." Blair appeared at a press conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who praised the resolve and bravery of the British people. Amid the massive security alert across the capital, armed police were seen on TV drawing their guns near Blair's official Downing Street residence as they detained a man. There was no indication the man was linked to the blasts. In the United States the White House said President George W. Bush had been informed of the incidents, news of which first came at 12:38 p.m. (7:38 a.m. ET). At 12:45 p.m., a call came in from Warren Street. All three stations affected in Thursday's blasts were evacuated and four Tube lines -- Hammersmith & City, Victoria, Northern and Bakerloo -- were closed, according to a spokesperson for Transport for London. The area around Warren Street station was sealed off while the bomb squad checked for further explosive devices. ITN reported authorities were pushing people further back from the station and witnesses reported seeing men in chemical suits going down in station. Police later said after initial checks no trace of chemical agents at Warren Street or Oval stations was found. Meanwhile in east London, a bus driver reported a "bang" from the top of his double-decker in Hackney, according to the bus company's spokesman. The spokesman said the windows of the bus were blown out, although this was denied by a police officer at the scene. "I have seen the bus. There were no windows blown out," the officer told Reuters. The ambulance service had no details on the Shepherd's Bush station incident. Bryce Elder, a witness near the Shepherd's Bush station, said there was a heavy police presence but "no real sense of panic." Police helicopters flew overhead and areas near Shepherd's Bush station were evacuated. Elder said the station was not very busy. CNN London producer Katie Turner reported a heavy police presence near the Oval station, including about 30 police vehicles. Roads about 500 meters from the station have been blocked off to vehicular traffic, she said. A woman who was on the train at the Oval station when the incident happened said she didn't hear a bang, but saw people pushing themselves into her carriage. She said there was a general mood of panic. The train, which was moving when incident happened, was not packed with people, she said. One explosives expert told CNN the "sour smell" reported by people coming out of the Underground would likely have come from two sources: the rucksack catching fire; and the explosives themselves catching fire after the detonator failed to explode them. The explosives could actually burn and give a toxic smell. Scotland Yard also said an "incident" at University College London Hospital (UCL), where armed officers were deployed, was over. Sky TV reported that police said they were searching that hospital, which is near Warren Street, for a man wearing a blue shirt with wires protruding from a hole in the back. |
|
Exactly two weeks after the deadly bombings of London’s transport system on July 7th, Britain’s capital has been hit by a fresh wave of attacks—though with few casualties this time. Were the four reported explosions the work of further members of the Islamist group that struck last time—or unrelated “copycats”? Reutershttp://www.economist.com/images/ga/...ombsReuters.jpg A FORTNIGHT after the four explosions that killed 56 people, Londoners’ reputation for “getting on with it” in spite of threats to their safety was put to the test again. On Thursday July 21st the city’s transport system was reported to have been hit by explosions at four points around midday—three almost simultaneous blasts on the London Underground and a fourth on a bus, the same as last time. However, police are also talking of devices having failed to explode at the scenes of some of the attacks. What is clear is that the explosions were smaller this time and the results were far less devastating. The sight of bloodied commuters being brought out of Underground stations was mercifully absent. The reported blasts were on trains at Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd’s Bush Underground stations and on a number 26 bus in Hackney. Little is confirmed so far, though London’s police chief, Sir Ian Blair, said the blasts were being treated as a “very serious incident”. Tony Blair, the prime minister, convened COBRA, the government’s emergency committee, and urged Londoners to carry on as usual. http://www.economist.com/images/blocks/spacer.gifSo far, the only report of anyone being seriously hurt is that of a man involved in the incident at Warren Street, which is just north of Oxford Street, London’s principal shopping district. Some reports suggested the injured man might have been carrying a rucksack that exploded on the train. But television networks said armed police in body armour had entered the nearby University College Hospital, in pursuit of a man said to be carrying a bomb. Eye witnesses told of another suspected bomber seen running away from the blast at Oval. There was also an as-yet unexplained drama outside the prime minister’s office in Downing Street, broadcast live on television, in which police led away a man at gunpoint. |
|
Breaking news at 12.20am: A suspected suicide bomber has been shot dead by police at Stockwell Tube station in south London. The man was shot five times by police at close range, a passenger on the Northern Line train said. There were unconfirmed reports that the suspect was one of the attackers involved in yesterday's incidents Scotland Yard said: "We can confirm that just after 10am armed officers entered Stockwell Tube station. A man was challenged by officers and subsequently shot. London Ambulance Service attended the scene. He was pronounced dead at the scene." Witness Mark Whitby, speaking to BBC News 24, reported the man was shot five times at close range after he had jumped on a train. Mr Whitby said he was sitting on the Tube train reading his paper as it was stationary with its doors open in Stockwell station. He said he heard people shouting "get down, get down!" He said: "An Asian guy ran on to the train. As he ran, he was hotly pursued by what I knew to be three plainclothes police officers." He tripped and was also pushed to the floor and one of the officers shot him five times. |
