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More Terror Attacks In London
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» michaeldino replied on Thu Jul 21, 2005 @ 10:38am |
 Coolness: 69005 |
One injured, say police
Robert Barr Canadian Press July 21, 2005 
A map showing the three London underground stations that were evacuated Thursday. (Global News Morning) Police and Emergency services are seen outside the Oval Tube Station, London, Thursday. (AP) Londoners gather outside Chancery Lane underground station in London Thursday to listen to a newspaper seller's radio. (AP) LONDON -- Explosions struck three London Underground stations and a bus at midday Thursday in a chilling but less deadly replay of the suicide bombings that killed 56 people two weeks ago. Only one person was reported wounded, but the explosions during the lunch hour caused major disruption in the city and were hauntingly similar to the July 7 bombings by four attackers. The London police commissioner confirmed Thursday that four explosions took place in what he described as "serious incidents." "We've had four explosions - four attempts at explosions," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian 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 the July 7 blasts. 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 explosions did not shut down the subway system, although three lines remained closed more than two hours later. Police in chemical protection suits were seen preparing to enter the Warren Street Underground station. Sky TV reported that police said no chemical agents were involved in the explosions. Explosions also were reported at the Shepherds Bush and Oval stations. Canadian Foreign Affairs officials said they were monitoring the latest developments in London. Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary responsible for Canadians abroad, said from Ottawa that Canada's consular offices in London remain open. He added there were no reports of Canadian casualties. Emergency teams were sent to all three stations after the incidents, which began at 12:38 p.m. One witness told Sky TV that another subway passenger told him a backpack exploded at the Warren Street station and there were reports of smoke. Stagecoach, the company which operates the stricken bus, said the driver heard a bang and went upstairs, where he found the windows blown out. The company said the bus was structurally intact and there were no reports of injuries. Closed-circuit TV cameras on Hackney Road showed the No. 26 bus immobilized at a stop with its indicator lights flashing. The area around the bus had been cordoned off. Prime Minister Tony Blair cancelled his afternoon appointments as the developments unfolded. The incidents paralleled 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 centre 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. "People were panicking. But very fortunately the train was only 15 seconds from the station," witness Ivan McCracken told Sky news. McCracken said another passenger at Warren Street claimed he had seen a backpack explode. The bombs which killed 56 people on board three Underground trains and a bus in London on July 7 were carried in backpacks, police said. McCracken said he smelled smoke and that 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 and Northern lines were suspended following reports of a number of incidents, London Underground said. "I was in the carriage and we smelt 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," Mohellavi said. He told The Associated Press he did not see smoke but rather smelled something similar to an electrical fire. © Canadian Press 2005 Originial Story at [ www.canada.com ] affiliate of [ ">www.canwestglobal.com ] CanWest Global Communications Corp. |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» michaeldino replied on Thu Jul 21, 2005 @ 10:45am |
| Coolness: 69005 | A number of Tube stations have been evacuated and lines closed after minor blasts in what Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair says is a "serious incident". 
Sir Ian appealed to Londoners to stay where they were and said the transport system was effectively being shut down. The minor explosions - just two weeks after blasts killed 56 - involved detonators only, a BBC reporter said. In addition, a blast was reported on the top deck of a Number 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green. There were no injuries and the bus suffered no structural damage. Initial tests at Oval station revealed no traces of any chemical agent, police said. Police said officers in protective clothing had been deployed to Warren Street to examine the scene. Casualties 'low' Large areas around Warren Street, Oval and the Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line Tube stations have been cordoned off. One person was injured at Warren Street. There were reports the injured person may have been holding a rucksack containing the detonator. 
Police in protective clothing were deployed at Warren Street Sir Ian told reporters: "The casualty numbers appear to be very low in the explosions. "The bombs appear to be smaller than on the last occasion but we don't know the implications of all this yet." He appealed for witnesses with mobile phone pictures of any of the incidents to send them to [ www.police.uk. ] The BBC's Andrew Winstanley said devices had been found but appeared to have been dummies, containing no explosives. Lines suspended Police said armed officers had been deployed to University College Hospital after an incident. A large area was cordoned off. There were reports a memo had been circulated to staff to look out for a 6ft 2in black or Asian man with wires sticking out of his top. The hospital has not received any casualties or been alerted to casualties. A man was arrested near Downing Street by armed police and led away down Whitehall. The whole of the Northern Line has been suspended, along with the Victoria Line, the Hammersmith and City line, Piccadilly and the Bakerloo line. 
Police have set up cordons round the stations A number of other stations were closed including Great Portland Street, Westminster, Waterloo, St Paul's and Oxford Circus tube stations, as well as Waterloo tube station and King's Cross Thameslink. Tony Blair cancelled events in the afternoon and attended a meeting of the Cobra committee along with Sir Ian. Whitehall was briefly closed down. London Underground went to an amber alert with trains taken to the next station and evacuated. An eyewitness at Oval station said there had been a small bang, and a man had then run off when the Tube reached the station. A spokesman for Stagecoach said the driver of the number 26 bus travelling through Shoreditch had heard a bang on upper deck, gone upstairs and seen the windows were blown out. The bus driver was very shaken but said to be fine. At Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line station, police told reporters that a man had threatened to blow himself up and then ran off. Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street. "I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning. "Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking." The BBC's Rory Barnett said there had been no smoke on the platform at Warren Street. Original Story at [url=news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4703777.stm"> [ news.bbc.com ] |
More Terror Attacks In London
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