More Subway Bombings in London

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Would our local Brits please check in?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

London Official Confirms Subway Blasts

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Three London Underground stations were evacuated at midday Thursday, and the London police commissioner confirmed that four explosions occurred in the subway and on a bus. The Fire Brigade was investigating a report of smoke at one station.

Emergency services personnel were also responding to some sort of incident on a bus in the Hackney neighborhood.

For more, go to these FOX News partners: Sky News | The Times of London | The Sun

Police said there was one report of an injury.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair described the incident as "serious."

"We've had four explosions -- four attempts at explosions," Blair said outside police headquarters at Scotland Yard. "At the moment the casualty numbers appear to be very low ... the bombs appear to be smaller" than those detonated July 7.

Police also said an armed police unit had entered University College hospital. Press Association, the British news agency, said they arrived shortly after an injured person was carried in.

Sky News TV reported that police were searching for a man with a blue shirt with wires protruding.

The Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and Oval stations were evacuated. Emergency services personnel were called to the stations, police said. There were reports of a nail bomb that exploded and/or a backpack that exploded at Warren Street but those reports have not yet been confirmed.

Police in chemical protection suits were seen preparing to enter the Warren Street station. Sky News reported that police said no chemical agents were involved in the explosions.

There was also an incident at 10 Downing Street, where British Prime Minister Tony Blair's offices are located. Two police officers trained their guns on a man before leading him off the premises; his shirt was unbuttoned in the front.

The head of Scotland Yard said in a brief press conference Thursday that commuters and other Londoners should stay exactly where they are; he said it's possible more portions of the transit system will be shut down.

Some witnesses said they heard gunshots at the Warren Street stop but according to Sky News, police believe those noises were actually detonators going off for bombs that didn't explode.

"People were panicking. But very fortunately the train was only 15 seconds from the station," witness Ivan McCracken told Sky News.

McCracken said he smelled smoke, and people were panicking and coming into his carriage. He said he spoke to an Italian man who was comforting a woman after the evacuation.

"He said that a man was carrying a rucksack and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack," McCracken said. "The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage."

Services on the Victoria, Hammersmith and Northern lines were suspended following reports of a number of incidents, the London Underground said.

"I was in the carriage and we smelled smoke -- it was like something was burning," said Losiane Mohellavi, 35, who was evacuated at Warren Street. "Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking."

On the No. 26 bus in Hackney, a stagecoach official said there was a blast on the upper level of the bus, which blew out the vehicle's windows.

Keith Roberts, a shopkeeper near where the bus was sitting empty, said the bus driver was speaking to police and not only the bus but nearby houses were also evacuated. Roberts and another witness from the Sheperds Bush station who called in to Sky News said they were told by police to get off their cell phones.

The concern is that authorities believe that at least two bombs have not gone off, one of which could be on the bus. Cell phones work on radio frequencies, which could set off the potential bombs.

The reports came exactly two weeks to the day that four homicide bombers attacked three subway stations and a double-decker bus in London, killing 52 others.

Simon Marks, president and chief correspondent for Feature Story News, was reporting from the Warren Street Underground station for FOX News. He said the area was cordoned off as dozens of fire trucks and emergency vehicles were arriving.

"I think this looks like much more than a false alarm at this point," Marks told FOX News.

More than an hour after the reports, Metropolitan Police said they were not treating it as a major incident on a par with the July 7 attacks.

However, the incidents were hauntingly similar to the blasts two weeks ago, which involved explosions at three Underground stations simultaneously -- quickly followed by a blast on a bus. Those bombings, during the morning rush hour, also occurred in the center of London, hitting the Underground railway from various directions.

Thursday's incidents, however, were more geographically spread out.

London Ambulance said it was called to the Oval station at 12:38 p.m. and Warren Street at 12:45 p.m. The July 7 attacks began at 8:51 a.m.

Prime Minister Blair was scheduled to meet with various British intelligence agencies Thursday and with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. He canceled a visit to a school in East London, which was in the same general area as the potential bus bomb.

President Bush was briefed on the London incidents, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who said U.S. officials are "monitoring the situation closely.'"

Washington, D.C., Metro officials said the city's subways, which have been on a higher alert since the July 7 London bombings, will see an increase in security and bomb-sniffing dogs.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has also been advised and is monitoring the situation. There is no plan to change the terror threat level at this time; the Department of Homeland Security is still gathering information.

The concern among U.S. officials in these situations is whether there would be legitimate follow-up attacks by the same group responsible for the July 7 bombings, or "copy cat" incidents, of lesser severity and effectiveness.

FOX News' Wendell Goler, Catherine Herridge, Amy Kellogg and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[StColette]

*goes to check the news*

[cmotherofpirl]

[url="http://www.foxnews.com/"]http://www.foxnews.com/[/url]

[Noel's angel]

i think randomproddy is still up north

[Aloysius]

with only one reported casualty there is not much more of a chance of a phatmasser from London being that one person than a phatmasser from London getting struck by lightning.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Jul 21 2005, 11:16 AM']with only one reported casualty there is not much more of a chance of a phatmasser from London being that one person than a phatmasser from London getting struck by lightning.
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When I made this, FoxNews was reporting at least 52 dead, lol...

[Aloysius]

that was last time though right?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Jul 21 2005, 11:20 AM'] that was last time though right?
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[/quote]

No...that was this morning.

[Noel's angel]

55 last time

[Noel's angel]

nthe article is talking abuot the last bombings, not todays when it says 52 dead

[Aloysius]

It was 52 by Fox News Standards (they don't count the bombers).

but this time there's only one reported casualty so far right?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Noel's angel' date='Jul 21 2005, 11:22 AM']nthe article is talking abuot the last bombings, not todays when it says 52 dead
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[/quote]

I'm talking about what I heard on the news, not what the article says.

[Noel's angel]

Fox News are wrong-for British news use the BBC

[Aloysius]

no, they don't count the bombers. that's why their number is always different than the other news stations for every suicide bombing

[Noel's angel]

well, the official number is 55-thats what the British news stations released

[Noel's angel]

but i was talking about Fox News being wrong about 52 dead today

[Aloysius]

oh, yeah well if they said today then yeah they were wrong.

I like the Fox News Approach because we should be listing the victims, those are who we're concerned about. The bombers killed their own selves, it was their fault they're dead and in death they receive what they justly deserve for such heinous murder. they should not be grouped with the innocent victems.