A frame grab shows emergency vehicles on the scene outside King's Cross station in London July 7, 2005. A series of explosions rocked London's transport system at rush hour on Thursday morning, causing numerous casualties and leaving millions of passengers in shock, police said. The causes of the incidents -- which occurred one day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and as leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations met in Scotland -- were unknown but police said many of the city's underground stations were affected. People were seen streaming out of one underground station covered with blood and soot. Passengers were evacuated from stations across the capital, many in shock and with their clothes ripped to shreds, witnesses said. (Reuters
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London Underground closed down and bus services in central London suspended after multiple coordinated terrorist bomb attacks on transport Thursday, July 7 with massive casualties. British troops stream to the capital, take up position outside Buckingham Palace. Foreign embassies, including Israeli mission, are evacuated.
July 7, 2005, 2:07 PM (GMT+02:00)
Three buses were blown up with many casualties, including fatalities, and at least five blasts have closed London's Underground. At one station, Aldgate East in financial district at least 90 casualties reported. London's hospitals on major alert. The buses were blown up at Russell Square in central London and Tavistock Square. Before the underground service was shut down, first two explosions with casualties occurred at Aldgate East station near the financial district and Edgware Road station in NW London. One blast is reported in a train carriage. Confusion at big King's Cross station reportedly caused a collision between two trains. The underground system is in a state of chaos as emergency services try and extricate large numbers of trapped commuters. Outside London, Brighton and Swindon stations shut down over ''security incidents.''
cell phone pic from train underground
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be carfull its pretty close to HYDE PARK .....
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Statement claiming London attacks
The BBC has located an Islamist website that has published a 200-word statement issued by an organisation saying it carried out the London bombings.
The organisation calls itself the Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaeda [literally the base] of Jihad Organisation in Europe.
The group not previously been heard of. The website has previously carried statements purporting to be from al-Qaeda. It is not possible to verify such claims published on the web.
This is the full text of the statement.
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In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate, may peace be upon the cheerful one and undaunted fighter, Prophet Muhammad, God's peace be upon him.
Nation of Islam and Arab nation: Rejoice for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist Crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters.
We have repeatedly warned the British Government and people. We have fulfilled our promise and carried out our blessed military raid in Britain after our mujahideen exerted strenuous efforts over a long period of time to ensure the success of the raid.
We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all the Crusader governments that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. He who warns is excused.
God says: "You who believe: If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly."
http://video.cgi.cbsnews.com/video/video.pl?url=/broadcast/*/livenews1.wmv&sid=500251&dart=news.video
live video feed from london
this last post is the al quaida claim of responsabilty
The Bombers were Suicide Killers
DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive Analysis
July 8, 2005, 11:14 AM (GMT+02:00)
The bombing attacks on London's Underground railway and a double-decker bus Thursday, July 7, were the work of a team of 6-8 terrorists wearing explosive vests.
This is the first conclusion drawn by DEBKA-Net-Weekly's terror experts from the type and strength of the explosives used and they way the bombers, in three out of the four attacks, were able to deliberately spread the damage to secondary vehicles outside their primary targets.
The explosion on the trains at Kings Cross and Edgware Road stations- and the bomb that wrecked the bus at Tavistock Square - were also aimed at hitting passing trains and cars to maximize the casualty toll. To accomplish this, the bomber needed to watch out for moving vehicles and judge the exact moment for detonating the explosive with zero chances of surviving the blast.
The bombs were not large, smaller than the ones that were planted on the Madrid trains in March 2004, because they had to be worn on the terrorists' bodies without arousing suspicion. In Madrid they were left in bags.
At the big Kings Cross station, two trains were caught in the blast; at Edgware Road station, three trains were hit.
As for the bus, two suicide bombers sat at the back of the bus well separated, ready to detonate their vests as soon as they saw a second bus came close through the rear window. They then both tripped the cords on their bombs. The bus's upper deck was ripped off and hurled in the air. Had there been one bomber, only one side of the bus would have been wrecked.
These details are vital leads for the investigation. Scotland Yard and British anti-terrorist agencies must determine how a large team of suicide killers reached central London without prior warning from the British and foreign intelligence agencies engaged in the war on al Qaeda. There could be three explanations:
1. A home-grown covert Muslim cell that escaped the notice of the anti-terrorist intelligence network that was spread across Britain after the 9/11 al Qaeda attacks in America.
2. It was the work of an al Qaeda suicide team which had never been to the UK before and had no previous ties with local terrorist cells. They simply mingled with the stream of summer tourists entering the country. This team would have been made up of three groups, one to collect intelligence, select targets and transport the killers to the scenes of attack; one to smuggle in the bomb-vests and finally, the actual suicide bombers.
3. The terrorists arrived in London singly without attracting attention and found an intelligence infrastructure and explosives already set up by a local cell unknown to the British security authorities.
More than a few British Muslims have spent time in Arab countries studying at religious institutions whose curriculum includes military training and bomb-making instruction.
Two such British Muslim suicide killers, Asif Mohammed Hanif and Omar Khan Sherif, were dispatched to Tel Aviv to blow up the American embassy on April 30, 2003, When they saw the building was a fortress, they switched to an attack on the neighboring Mike's Bar.
A joint British-Israeli probe traced the two bombers' movements from London to Damascus where they studied and were recruited at a medressa run by al Qaeda's adherents. The pair picked up their bomb vests from Hizballah agents in the Gaza Strip which they entered as British tourists supporting the Palestinian cause.
The London bombers' modus operandi recalls that of Hanif and Sherif two years ago.
It could take weeks if not months before forensic lab. tests come up with a lead to the identifies of the suicide killers – unless of course video cameras were placed strategically enough to pick them out. Even then, the quality may not be good enough. But with luck, the British police have been able to name the wanted men, just as the Boston police were helped by a convenient video camera in September 2001.
Exclusive: Al Qaeda gets its bombs in Serbia
July 8, 2005, 2:12 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Al Qaeda gets its bombs in Serbia
Belgrade is where al Qaeda goes shopping for the explosives and arms for its terror attacks, according DEBKAfile's exclusive intelligence and counter-terror sources. Thursday, July 7, eight hours after four coordinated blasts hit London transport and killed at least 50 people, British terror experts were on a special flight from London to the Serbian capital.
They were carrying samples of the explosives collected from the four crime scenes to probe their origin and find out how the substance was smuggled into the UK. According to our sources, several large illicit weapons traffickers set up business in Belgrade a year ago. Al Qaeda is one of their biggest customers. The Americans discovered this from examinations of explosives and weapons seized from terrorists in Iraq and Israeli probes of the origin of weapons seized from smugglers crossing through the southern Negev on their way from Egyptian Sinai to Jordan and thence to Iraq.
The arms traffickers in Belgrade help themselves to the contents of Serbian army arms stores by bribing the right officers. The Serbian government has not responded to appeals from Washington to shut down this arms racket operations.