Terrorist attack in London
Guzzo
8,611 Posts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050707/ts_nm/security_britain1_dc_2LONDON (Reuters) - Four blasts ripped through London during rush hour on Thursday morning, killing at least 33 people and disrupting a summit of Group of Eight leaders in Scotland in attacks Prime Minister Tony Blair branded as "barbaric." British interior minister Charles Clarke called the explosions "terrorist attacks."Witnesses saw the top ripped off a double-decker bus near Russell Square close to King's Cross train terminal, and three more apparently coordinated explosions caused carnage on packed subway trains as Londoners made their way to work."I was on the bus," said one dazed passenger. "I looked round and the seats behind me were gone.""You could see bodies on the road outside," said another eyewitness, Peter Gordon. "There was smoke everywhere. It was carnage."Brian Paddick, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said seven people were killed on an underground train near Moorgate station, 21 were confirmed dead near Liverpool Street subway station and five died at Edgware Road.People were also killed when a blast blew the roof off a double-decker bus near Russell Square but the number was not immediately clear.President Bush, speaking at the G8 summit, told reporters that "the war on terror goes on.""We will not yield to these terrorists, we will find them, we will bring them to justice," he said.A previously unknown group, "Secret Group of al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe," claimed responsibility for the attacks. Police have so far declined to comment on suggestions that suicide bombers were involved.Financial markets tumbled as the scale of the attacks became clear and Blair told reporters he would return to London from the G8 meeting to oversee the emergency. He planned to return to the talks in Gleneagles later in the day.The attacks recalled the 2004 train bombings in Madrid blamed on al Qaeda and left Londoners in shock. The Islamic Human Rights Commission warned London Muslims to stay at home to avoid any violence aimed at them.The attacks came a day after a jubilant London was awarded the 2012 Olympic Games."I'm deeply saddened that this should happen at the heart of an Olympic city. Unfortunately there is no safe haven. No one can say their city is safe," said International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge in Singapore.Italy's interior minister said all Europe was on alert.Britain has been key ally of the United States in its war in Iraq, where al Qaeda is waging a bloody insurgency.DEAD AND WOUNDEDThe carnage began at just before 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) when an explosion went off near Aldgate East subway station. Within the next hour, three more blasts had gone off at underground sites near Edgware Road and King's Cross, and then on a bus nearby. London's police chief Ian Blair said there were indications of explosives at the blast sites. "We are concerned that this is a co-ordinated attack," he told Sky television. London Mayor Ken Livingstone, speaking in Singapore, said suicide bombers may have been involved. "I wish to speak to you directly -- to those who came to London today to take lives," he said. "I know that you personally do not fear to give your own life in exchange for taking others, which is why you are so dangerous." People were seen streaming out of underground stations covered with blood and soot. Passengers were evacuated from stations across the capital, many in shock and with their clothes ripped to shreds, witnesses said. The city's streets rapidly emptied and financial markets plummeted as it became increasingly apparent that the blasts were an attack, and not a power surge on the underground train system as had first been reported. Security experts said the blasts bore all the hallmarks of al Qaeda. "If what we are looking at is a simultaneous bombing, and it does look like that, it would very certainly fit the classic al Qaeda methodology which centers precisely on that: multi-seated hits on transport and infrastructural targets," said Shane Brighton, intelligence expert at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense. On the currency market, the safe-haven Swiss franc hit a six-week high against sterling and rose more than 1 percent against the dollar following the explosions. "The market is showing a textbook reaction, buying safe-haven currencies like the Swiss franc and euro and away from the dollar," said Marios Maratheftis, currency strategist at Standard Chartered. Oil prices initially fell three percent before recovering and London's FTSE stock exchange lost two percent. (Additional reporting by London bureau)
Comments
this really really sucks.
i guess having britain & the US out to get you isn't enough these days...
some uk peeps I talked to questioned the al-qaeda link because the stations that were bombed were in largely arabic/muslim neighborhoods.
(is that true?)
Well, Edgware Road is pretty much the hub of London's liberal/Westernised Arab Muslim communities, and has been for decades. Aldgate underground station is right round the corner from Brick Lane, which is the centre of the British Bangladeshi community in East London. I dunno that this is entirely coincidental, even if you factor in the possibility that the bombs might have been intended for more central targets, and the bombers failed to take into account the regular delays on the Tube. If you consider that jihadist groups are down with something called "takfir", it puts a different complexion on things. As I understand it (so correct me if I've got this wrong) "takfir" involves declaring another Muslim to be an apostate, and therefore worthy of being killed. If you disagree with jihadis on even the tiniest, most minor issue, you are takfir, and a legitimate target. Not all takfirers (sp?) are jihadis, but jihadis are generally big on takfir.
London seems reassuringly normal today. Buses and most of the tubes are running, but the centre is a little more subdued than usual. Last night was strange. I walked from West End to East End in under two hours and, of course, everyone else was on foot. It felt a little like a spontaneous march of defiance against the bombers, and made me feel genuinely proud of my adopted city.
Still no credible info on who's responsible yet, although the smart dollar is on some outfit with al-Qaeda affiliations/sympathies.