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Rush-Hour Strike Wounds up to 1,000; Blair Sees G-8 Link
By Sarah Lyall
The New York Times
Thursday 07 July 2005
London - In the morning rush today, London was struck by a series of four apparently coordinated terrorist explosions in subways and buses, which killed at least 33 people and wounded as many as 1,000 others. The explosions ripped apart several subway trains and at least one double-decker bus and caused officials to close and evacuate the entire subway system.
Witnesses reported seeing dozens of people stumbling out of subway stations in a light rain, coughing, and black with soot. Dozens more were being loaded into ambulances on stretchers and taken to hospitals around the city.
Police officials said they did not know whether the attacks had been the work of suicide bombers or the result of packages left on trains and buses. No arrests have been made.
The attacks were "deliberately designed to kill and injure innocent members of the public," Brian Paddick, London's assistant police commissioner said in a news conference. Mr. Paddick said four explosive devices had been used, but that he had no additional information on the devices. Authorities said they had received no warnings before the explosions occurred and that they had not received directly any claim of responsibility afterward. An Al Qaeda group posted a statement on a Web site claiming responsibility.
"We are keeping an open mind as to who the perpetrators might be," Mr. Paddick said.
In a televised statement from the Group of 8 summit meeting of world leaders in Scotland, Prime Minister Tony Blair linked the bombings with the opening of the summit.
"Just as it is reasonably clear that this is a terrorist attack or a series of terrorist attacks," Mr. Blair said, "it is also reasonably clear that it is designed and aimed to coincide with the opening of the G-8."
Mr. Blair returned to London from Gleneagles, Scotland, and said he would return to Scotland for the summit this evening. In his absence, he said before leaving Scotland, the summit would continue.
He added that it was "particularly barbaric" that the attacks had occurred during a summit intended to aid people in developing nations.
Later, speaking with President Bush and other leaders behind him, Mr. Blair said the summit participants would not "allow violence to change our societies or our values."
Also speaking from Scotland, President Bush said the contrast between the work of the G-8 summit and the actions of the apparent terrorists was "incredibly vivid."
"On the one hand, you have people working to alleviate poverty and rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS and ways to have clean a environment, and on the other hand, you have people working to kill other people," the president said. "The contrast couldn't be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill, those who've got such evil in their hearts that they will take the lives of innocent folks. The war on terror goes on."
Spiegel Online posted a statement it attributed to an Arabic Web site. The statement, in Arabic, said that it was from a group called the Secret Al Qaeda Jihad Organization in Europe and that the group had carried out the attack in retaliation of Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"In response to the massacre that Britain has carried out in Iraq and Afghanistan: The heroic mujahedeen has undertaken a blessed attack in London," the statement said. "Now Britain is burning with fear, dread and dismay from north, south, east and west."
It continued: "We have warned the British government and the British people again and again. We have carried out our promise and undertaken a blessed military attack in Britain after great efforts by the heroic mujahedeen over a long period of time to ensure the success of the attack."
The statement also warned "Denmark, Italy and all of the Crusader governments" that they will be attacked if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The veracity of the claim could not be verified and various groups often claim responsibility after terror attacks. An Al Qaeda group based in Europe also claimed responsibility for the train bombings on March 11, 2004, in Madrid, which killed 191 and injured 1,900.
Police officials said that just before 9 a.m., explosions occurred at or around subway stations at Liverpool Street, King's Cross and Edgware Road and a double-decker red bus at Tavistock Square.
At 8:51 a.m., a blast rocked a train about 100 meters inside a tunnel at Liverpool station leaving at least seven people dead. Five minutes later an explosion occurred near King's Cross, killing 21. At 9:17 a.m., a device was detonated inside a train at the Edgware Road station. The blast partly destroyed a station wall and damaged two other trains. Five died in the explosion. And at 9:47 a.m., a bomb went off on the rear portion of the bus. It remains unclear how many died in that incident.
Television pictures showed people on the street with bloody faces and bandages on their faces and heads.
The explosions came a day after London celebrated winning the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. The president of the International Olympic Committee, Dr. Jacques Rogge, said, according to the Reuters news agency: "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."
In central London, Roger Clark, who was riding a bus to work, said he had seen a double-decker bus on the street ahead of him suddenly torn apart.
"The top rear section of the bus exploded, ripping apart the whole of the bus," he told CNN. "It lifted about 10 meters above the bus."
The bus, he said, had been "packed" with people.
Other witnesses reported seeing "multiple casualties, multiple bodies."
Mobile phones and land lines were not working because the systems had been overloaded. Large sections of central London had been cordoned off.
At Tavistock Square, a parking attendant, Ade Soji, said the driver of the bus that exploded had stopped him just before it took place. "I was helping a member of the public with directions when the bus stopped and the driver asked me the name of the street," Mr. Soji told the Press Association. "I told him Tavistock Square and he called me over. Just as I was about to go, I heard the bus explode. In another second I would have been dead. I had to run for my life."
Witnesses reported that the top of the bus was sheared off, like a sardine can.
Mr. Blair, London's police commissioner, said that since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in the United States, London's emergency services had been preparing for such an incident and that "the situation is being controlled." He warned people to "stay where you are," to avoid traveling around London, and not to call the police or ambulance services unless there was a life-threatening emergency.
At St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, officials reported that they had admitted four people with critical injuries, like loss of arms and legs; eight with serious injuries, including head wounds, smoke inhalation and lacerations; and four with more minor injuries, including temporary hearing loss.
London's subway system, the world's oldest, transports three million people each day. Officials estimated that about 500 trains were in use at the time of the explosions, with some trains carrying as many as 900 people.
Loyita Worley, who works for a city law firm, told the BBC that she was in the subway when an explosion took place in the next carriage, while it was in a tunnel.
Ms. Worley, 49, said: "All the lights went out and the train came to an immediate halt. There was smoke everywhere and everyone was coughing and choking, but remained calm. We couldn't open the doors."
After the doors were opened they were taken to Liverpool Street station, Ms. Worley said. She said that the carriage where the explosion took place was "black on the inside" and that she had seen people who appeared to have their clothes blown off, as well as bodies lying inside the carriage.
London's airports have remained opened and subway stations could be reopened soon, though buses will continue to be out of service for now, said Charles Clarke, the home secretary of Britain.
"People are strongly advised not to travel into central London as the emergency services must be allowed to do their work in the most effective way that they can," Mr. Clarke said.
In the United States, the secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, said he had raised the terrorist threat level for the nation's transit systems from yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high.
But at a news conference in Washington, Mr. Chertoff said intelligence agencies possessed no "credible evidence" that a similar attack was planned in the United States.
Amtrak said it had deployed extra officers and K-9 teams to stations, aboard trains and along the railroad, although there had been "no specific or credible threat made against Amtrak," according to an Amtrak statement. "The railroad will continue at this heightened security threat level until we have a better understanding of the events in London," Amtrak's statement said.
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By Sarah Lyall
The New York Times
Thursday 07 July 2005
London - In the morning rush today, London was struck by a series of four apparently coordinated terrorist explosions in subways and buses, which killed at least 33 people and wounded as many as 1,000 others. The explosions ripped apart several subway trains and at least one double-decker bus and caused officials to close and evacuate the entire subway system.
Witnesses reported seeing dozens of people stumbling out of subway stations in a light rain, coughing, and black with soot. Dozens more were being loaded into ambulances on stretchers and taken to hospitals around the city.
Police officials said they did not know whether the attacks had been the work of suicide bombers or the result of packages left on trains and buses. No arrests have been made.
The attacks were "deliberately designed to kill and injure innocent members of the public," Brian Paddick, London's assistant police commissioner said in a news conference. Mr. Paddick said four explosive devices had been used, but that he had no additional information on the devices. Authorities said they had received no warnings before the explosions occurred and that they had not received directly any claim of responsibility afterward. An Al Qaeda group posted a statement on a Web site claiming responsibility.
"We are keeping an open mind as to who the perpetrators might be," Mr. Paddick said.
In a televised statement from the Group of 8 summit meeting of world leaders in Scotland, Prime Minister Tony Blair linked the bombings with the opening of the summit.
"Just as it is reasonably clear that this is a terrorist attack or a series of terrorist attacks," Mr. Blair said, "it is also reasonably clear that it is designed and aimed to coincide with the opening of the G-8."
Mr. Blair returned to London from Gleneagles, Scotland, and said he would return to Scotland for the summit this evening. In his absence, he said before leaving Scotland, the summit would continue.
He added that it was "particularly barbaric" that the attacks had occurred during a summit intended to aid people in developing nations.
Later, speaking with President Bush and other leaders behind him, Mr. Blair said the summit participants would not "allow violence to change our societies or our values."
Also speaking from Scotland, President Bush said the contrast between the work of the G-8 summit and the actions of the apparent terrorists was "incredibly vivid."
"On the one hand, you have people working to alleviate poverty and rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS and ways to have clean a environment, and on the other hand, you have people working to kill other people," the president said. "The contrast couldn't be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill, those who've got such evil in their hearts that they will take the lives of innocent folks. The war on terror goes on."
Spiegel Online posted a statement it attributed to an Arabic Web site. The statement, in Arabic, said that it was from a group called the Secret Al Qaeda Jihad Organization in Europe and that the group had carried out the attack in retaliation of Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"In response to the massacre that Britain has carried out in Iraq and Afghanistan: The heroic mujahedeen has undertaken a blessed attack in London," the statement said. "Now Britain is burning with fear, dread and dismay from north, south, east and west."
It continued: "We have warned the British government and the British people again and again. We have carried out our promise and undertaken a blessed military attack in Britain after great efforts by the heroic mujahedeen over a long period of time to ensure the success of the attack."
The statement also warned "Denmark, Italy and all of the Crusader governments" that they will be attacked if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The veracity of the claim could not be verified and various groups often claim responsibility after terror attacks. An Al Qaeda group based in Europe also claimed responsibility for the train bombings on March 11, 2004, in Madrid, which killed 191 and injured 1,900.
Police officials said that just before 9 a.m., explosions occurred at or around subway stations at Liverpool Street, King's Cross and Edgware Road and a double-decker red bus at Tavistock Square.
At 8:51 a.m., a blast rocked a train about 100 meters inside a tunnel at Liverpool station leaving at least seven people dead. Five minutes later an explosion occurred near King's Cross, killing 21. At 9:17 a.m., a device was detonated inside a train at the Edgware Road station. The blast partly destroyed a station wall and damaged two other trains. Five died in the explosion. And at 9:47 a.m., a bomb went off on the rear portion of the bus. It remains unclear how many died in that incident.
Television pictures showed people on the street with bloody faces and bandages on their faces and heads.
The explosions came a day after London celebrated winning the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. The president of the International Olympic Committee, Dr. Jacques Rogge, said, according to the Reuters news agency: "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."
In central London, Roger Clark, who was riding a bus to work, said he had seen a double-decker bus on the street ahead of him suddenly torn apart.
"The top rear section of the bus exploded, ripping apart the whole of the bus," he told CNN. "It lifted about 10 meters above the bus."
The bus, he said, had been "packed" with people.
Other witnesses reported seeing "multiple casualties, multiple bodies."
Mobile phones and land lines were not working because the systems had been overloaded. Large sections of central London had been cordoned off.
At Tavistock Square, a parking attendant, Ade Soji, said the driver of the bus that exploded had stopped him just before it took place. "I was helping a member of the public with directions when the bus stopped and the driver asked me the name of the street," Mr. Soji told the Press Association. "I told him Tavistock Square and he called me over. Just as I was about to go, I heard the bus explode. In another second I would have been dead. I had to run for my life."
Witnesses reported that the top of the bus was sheared off, like a sardine can.
Mr. Blair, London's police commissioner, said that since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in the United States, London's emergency services had been preparing for such an incident and that "the situation is being controlled." He warned people to "stay where you are," to avoid traveling around London, and not to call the police or ambulance services unless there was a life-threatening emergency.
At St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, officials reported that they had admitted four people with critical injuries, like loss of arms and legs; eight with serious injuries, including head wounds, smoke inhalation and lacerations; and four with more minor injuries, including temporary hearing loss.
London's subway system, the world's oldest, transports three million people each day. Officials estimated that about 500 trains were in use at the time of the explosions, with some trains carrying as many as 900 people.
Loyita Worley, who works for a city law firm, told the BBC that she was in the subway when an explosion took place in the next carriage, while it was in a tunnel.
Ms. Worley, 49, said: "All the lights went out and the train came to an immediate halt. There was smoke everywhere and everyone was coughing and choking, but remained calm. We couldn't open the doors."
After the doors were opened they were taken to Liverpool Street station, Ms. Worley said. She said that the carriage where the explosion took place was "black on the inside" and that she had seen people who appeared to have their clothes blown off, as well as bodies lying inside the carriage.
London's airports have remained opened and subway stations could be reopened soon, though buses will continue to be out of service for now, said Charles Clarke, the home secretary of Britain.
"People are strongly advised not to travel into central London as the emergency services must be allowed to do their work in the most effective way that they can," Mr. Clarke said.
In the United States, the secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, said he had raised the terrorist threat level for the nation's transit systems from yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high.
But at a news conference in Washington, Mr. Chertoff said intelligence agencies possessed no "credible evidence" that a similar attack was planned in the United States.
Amtrak said it had deployed extra officers and K-9 teams to stations, aboard trains and along the railroad, although there had been "no specific or credible threat made against Amtrak," according to an Amtrak statement. "The railroad will continue at this heightened security threat level until we have a better understanding of the events in London," Amtrak's statement said.
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