Ironworks Gaming Forum - Three "incidents" in the London Underground

Copycat bombings or the same group?

Quote:

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London's second wave of terror
By James Button Herald Correspondent in London and agencies
July 22, 2005

Four attempted explosions on London Tube trains and a bus have injured one person and caused commuters to flee in panic.

Transport staff told the BBC four "dummy nail bombs" were detonated, blowing the windows out of a bus in east London and causing smoke and panic on at least two Tube trains. It is understood no explosives were attached to the bombs and no fatalities were reported.

University College Hospital was cordoned off by armed police who said they were in pursuit of a would-be bomber.

Three Tube lines were suspended after the incidents, which took place in the middle of the day (10pm Sydney time).

Incidents were reported at Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd's Bush stations, and on a bus in Shoreditch, east London.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, said that "very clearly" police were dealing with a serious incident. He told reporters there were four explosions or attempted explosions but they appeared to be smaller than the ones that killed 56 people in the city two weeks ago. He appealed to Londoners to stay where they were.

Armed officers sealed off and entered University College Hospital near Warren Street Tube.

Hospital staff were told by police to be on the lookout for a man they described as 1.85 metres tall, wearing a blue top and with wires protruding from a hole in the back of his clothing.

There was an unconfirmed report of one shooting in an unspecified location.

Police in chemical protection suits were seen preparing to enter Warren Street station, where witnesses reported seeing smoke coming from a train. One said people had been panicking and coming into his carriage.

Police later said no traces of chemicals were found at any of the sites.

Andrea, a passenger on a Tube train near Oval station, said she heard a "big bang" and saw something on the floor that exploded.

"There was a guy still standing in the carriage and he just ran," she told the BBC. "He started running up the escalator. Everyone was screaming, 'Stop him!' but he ran past me and ran out the station." Another passenger reported a young man - aged 17 or 18 - running from the station.

One witness who was on a train travelling through Oval told BBC television passengers had seen the man running away after dropping a rucksack on the train.

"It sounded like a balloon had popped but a lot louder and then we all moved to one end of the carriage. There was something on the floor and you could see something had exploded.

Passengers on the No.26 bus also reported seeing a backpack on the floor that "was split and smelt strange".

A police officer told Reuters: "The bus driver heard a bang at the back of the bus. He thought it was probably a vehicle that had hit him.

"He stopped at a nearby bus stop and saw a suspect package at the back of the bus." The bus operator, Stagecoach, said the windows were blown out.

A passenger at Warren Street, Caroline Russell, said: "An English guy had a rucksack that was more like a firework than a big bomb." There was "a nasty burning rubber smell" and "a stampede of people out of the station".

The Prime Minister, John Howard, was meeting his British counterpart, Tony Blair, in Downing Street when the news broke. The area was cordoned off and Mr Blair attended an emergency security committee meeting.

At a joint press conference later with Mr Howard, Mr Blair said there appeared to be no casualties. He said the acts were carried out to "scare people and to make them anxious".

He thanked Mr Howard for Australia's sympathy and solidarity and said Australia had been an extremely strong ally.

Mr Howard said Australians had been greatly impressed with the determination of the British people to get on with life.

Source: " target="_blank">www.smh.com.au</font>