Roguish Lawyer
07-21-2005, 09:49
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/21/AR2005072100477.html
Blasts hit London again, 2 weeks after bombings
By Richard Meares and Gerard Wynn
Reuters
Thursday, July 21, 2005; 10:43 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Four small explosions hit London's bus and underground train network on Thursday, without causing major casualties, exactly 2 weeks after bombers killed more than 50 people in the capital.
A large part of the underground train network was suspended, but police reassured the public that the emergency was not as serious as 2 weeks ago.
London's police chief Ian Blair told reporters: "We know that we've had four explosions or attempts at explosions. It is still pretty unclear as to what's happened.
"At the moment, the casualty numbers appear to be very low ... The bombs appear to be smaller than the last occasion."
The emergency coincided with a memorial service for the attacks of July 7. Then, four young British Muslims detonated bombs in three underground trains and a bus at morning rush hour, killing more than 50 people and shocking a capital that had hitherto been spared al Qaeda-style attacks on civilians. Those bombings confronted Britain's people and politicians with the prospect the country could be nurturing its own generation of the type of Islamist militants loyal to Osama bin Laden who had already inflicted carnage in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, in Bali and on Madrid trains last year.
All four bombers died in the July 7 attacks, leading most people to assume they had been suicide bombers.
Britain's leading shares fell sharply on news of the latest incidents, but recovered once it appeared that the effect of the latest attacks would not be on the same scale as 2 weeks ago.
The pound fell against the euro and the dollar, but the impact was short-lived here too.
NATURE OF ATTACKS UNCLEAR
In the immediate confusion, the nature of the attacks was unclear.
"The worst-case scenario with the non-explosions or minor explosions would be that these are devices that haven't triggered properly. Beyond that, it looks like it may be people messing around, copycat-type stuff," said analyst Shane Brighton of the Royal United Services Institute, a London think-tank.
Robert Ayers of the Chatham House institute said it appeared that Britain now had to deal with a concerted militant campaign.
"You had four guys that died (on July 7), but the infrastructure that trained them, equipped them, funded them, pointed them at the right target -- the infrastructure's still in place, still here.
"There's no evidence that the infrastructure has left, which would suggest that all they need are four more stupid, young men who are willing to go off and die for a cause to do it all over again."
The July 7 bombs -- which were claimed on the Internet by a little-known Islamic militant group -- were timed to coincide with a summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations in Scotland.
The leaders promptly appeared shoulder to shoulder with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to express not only solidarity but also a shared determination not to give in to terrorism, and proceeded with the summit after a brief delay.
Although markets rebounded from the latest shock, nervousness was growing about the prospect of more attacks.
"It is a massive worry," said Jeremy Hodges, head of foreign exchange sales at Lloyds TSB bank.
"The security issues have just got about 500 percent greater. It will reflect badly on the economy, on tourism, and you have got to suggest that we are going to cut (interest) rates."
Around an hour after the first news of Thursday's incidents emerged at around 1200 GMT, there was no comment from the British government but officials said the prime minister would speak to reporters during the afternoon.
He was also due to chair a meeting of the government's emergency civil contingencies committee during the afternoon.
In Washington, President Bush was briefed, his spokesman said.
FOUR INCIDENTS
Emergency services rushed to three underground stations in or near central London and to the site of a blast on a bus in the east of the city.
One witness told Sky TV a passenger on a train near Warren Street underground station -- close to the scene of two of the July 7 bombs in central London -- had told him of a small explosion in a passenger's rucksack.
A source at the underground transport company said a nail bomb had exploded at the station.
Transport authorities said no injuries had been reported.
A Reuters witness said armed police entered and cordoned off University College Hospital in central London, adjacent to the underground station.
Sky News TV, quoting a police source, said the explosions were detonators rather than actual bombs.
A television reporter at Oval underground station in south London said police had cordoned off the area and brought in sniffer dogs.
One witness who was on a train traveling through that station told BBC television that passengers had seen what could have been a would-be bomber 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.
"We moved through -- they opened the door so we could move through to the next carriage and there was a guy still standing in the carriage.
"And then we pulled into Oval, we all got off on the platform and the guy just ran and started running up the escalator.
"Everyone was screaming for someone to stop him. He ran past me and I kind of stood in one of the alcoves and he ran out of the station. In fact he left a bag on the train."
Blasts hit London again, 2 weeks after bombings
By Richard Meares and Gerard Wynn
Reuters
Thursday, July 21, 2005; 10:43 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Four small explosions hit London's bus and underground train network on Thursday, without causing major casualties, exactly 2 weeks after bombers killed more than 50 people in the capital.
A large part of the underground train network was suspended, but police reassured the public that the emergency was not as serious as 2 weeks ago.
London's police chief Ian Blair told reporters: "We know that we've had four explosions or attempts at explosions. It is still pretty unclear as to what's happened.
"At the moment, the casualty numbers appear to be very low ... The bombs appear to be smaller than the last occasion."
The emergency coincided with a memorial service for the attacks of July 7. Then, four young British Muslims detonated bombs in three underground trains and a bus at morning rush hour, killing more than 50 people and shocking a capital that had hitherto been spared al Qaeda-style attacks on civilians. Those bombings confronted Britain's people and politicians with the prospect the country could be nurturing its own generation of the type of Islamist militants loyal to Osama bin Laden who had already inflicted carnage in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, in Bali and on Madrid trains last year.
All four bombers died in the July 7 attacks, leading most people to assume they had been suicide bombers.
Britain's leading shares fell sharply on news of the latest incidents, but recovered once it appeared that the effect of the latest attacks would not be on the same scale as 2 weeks ago.
The pound fell against the euro and the dollar, but the impact was short-lived here too.
NATURE OF ATTACKS UNCLEAR
In the immediate confusion, the nature of the attacks was unclear.
"The worst-case scenario with the non-explosions or minor explosions would be that these are devices that haven't triggered properly. Beyond that, it looks like it may be people messing around, copycat-type stuff," said analyst Shane Brighton of the Royal United Services Institute, a London think-tank.
Robert Ayers of the Chatham House institute said it appeared that Britain now had to deal with a concerted militant campaign.
"You had four guys that died (on July 7), but the infrastructure that trained them, equipped them, funded them, pointed them at the right target -- the infrastructure's still in place, still here.
"There's no evidence that the infrastructure has left, which would suggest that all they need are four more stupid, young men who are willing to go off and die for a cause to do it all over again."
The July 7 bombs -- which were claimed on the Internet by a little-known Islamic militant group -- were timed to coincide with a summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations in Scotland.
The leaders promptly appeared shoulder to shoulder with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to express not only solidarity but also a shared determination not to give in to terrorism, and proceeded with the summit after a brief delay.
Although markets rebounded from the latest shock, nervousness was growing about the prospect of more attacks.
"It is a massive worry," said Jeremy Hodges, head of foreign exchange sales at Lloyds TSB bank.
"The security issues have just got about 500 percent greater. It will reflect badly on the economy, on tourism, and you have got to suggest that we are going to cut (interest) rates."
Around an hour after the first news of Thursday's incidents emerged at around 1200 GMT, there was no comment from the British government but officials said the prime minister would speak to reporters during the afternoon.
He was also due to chair a meeting of the government's emergency civil contingencies committee during the afternoon.
In Washington, President Bush was briefed, his spokesman said.
FOUR INCIDENTS
Emergency services rushed to three underground stations in or near central London and to the site of a blast on a bus in the east of the city.
One witness told Sky TV a passenger on a train near Warren Street underground station -- close to the scene of two of the July 7 bombs in central London -- had told him of a small explosion in a passenger's rucksack.
A source at the underground transport company said a nail bomb had exploded at the station.
Transport authorities said no injuries had been reported.
A Reuters witness said armed police entered and cordoned off University College Hospital in central London, adjacent to the underground station.
Sky News TV, quoting a police source, said the explosions were detonators rather than actual bombs.
A television reporter at Oval underground station in south London said police had cordoned off the area and brought in sniffer dogs.
One witness who was on a train traveling through that station told BBC television that passengers had seen what could have been a would-be bomber 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.
"We moved through -- they opened the door so we could move through to the next carriage and there was a guy still standing in the carriage.
"And then we pulled into Oval, we all got off on the platform and the guy just ran and started running up the escalator.
"Everyone was screaming for someone to stop him. He ran past me and I kind of stood in one of the alcoves and he ran out of the station. In fact he left a bag on the train."