London rocked by terror attacks

[Rasputin]

At least two people have been killed and scores injured after three blasts on the Underground network and another on a double-decker bus in London.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was "reasonably clear" there had been a series of terrorist attacks.

He said it was "particularly barbaric" that it was timed to coincide with the G8 summit. He is returning to London.

An Islamist website has posted a statement - purportedly from al-Qaeda - claiming it was behind the attacks.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said blasts occurred between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street tube stations; between Russell Square and King's Cross tube stations; at Edgware Road tube station; and on a bus at Tavistock Square.

The Queen said she was "deeply shocked" and sent her sympathy to those affected.

Paul Woodrow, of the London Ambulance Service, is in Russell Square near the bus which exploded.

"At King's Cross station there is a rescue operation in the tunnel down on the line," he said.

"Although we cannot confirm casualties - it is too early - we are dealing with large numbers of casualties."

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick said the initial estimates were of 150 seriously injured and "many more" walking wounded.

Some 208 casualties were taken to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, with 26 people admitted - 13 are in theatre and another three are in intensive care.

The city's St Mary's Hospital said it was dealing with 26 injured people, including four with critical injuries and eight in a serious condition.

In other developments:


Commanders in charge of policing the G8 summit are considering how many officers with specialist skills can be released to join the operation in London

New Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said celebrations to mark the homecoming from Singapore of the successful London Olympic bid team have been cancelled

Pope Benedict said the blasts were "barbaric acts against humanity" in a message to the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor

Mobile phone services across London were jammed with all major networks reporting problems as people tried to contact relatives and friends. A spokeswoman for Vodafone said the emergency services were being given priority.
London police chief Sir Ian Blair urged people to stay where they were and not to call emergency services unless it was a life-threatening situation.

He reassured the public that an emergency plan was in place and the situation was "steadily coming under control".

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, speaking from Singapore before flying back to the UK, said Londoners would not be divided by a "cowardly attack".

He said it was an "indiscriminate" attempt at slaughter with no consideration for age or religion.

All London Underground services have been suspended indefinitely and bus services in central London (Zone One) have been halted.

Early reports had suggested a power surge could be to blame for explosions on the Underground but this was later discounted.

Describing the bus blast in Tavistock Square, witness Belinda Seabrook said she saw an explosion rip through the vehicle.

"I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double-decker bus was in the air," she said.

She said the bus had been travelling from Euston to Russell Square and was "packed" with people turned away from Tube stops.

"It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air. I think it was the number 205," she said.

One caller to BBC Five Live said his friend had seen "the bus ripped open like a can of sardines".

[Rasputin]

Four London Blasts Kill 40, Injure 300

LONDON - Four blasts rocked the London subway and tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday, sending bloodied victims fleeing after what a shaken Prime Minister Tony Blair called "barbaric" terrorist attacks. At least 40 people were killed and more than 350 wounded.

Two U.S. law enforcement officials said at least 40 people were killed. In London, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Piddick said at least 33 people killed in the subway system alone. He confirmed there were other deaths on the bus but gave no figures. London hospital officials contacted by The Associated Press reported more than 350 wounded.

Blair said the "terrorist attacks" were clearly designed to coincide with the G-8 summit opening in Gleneagles, Scotland. They also came a day after London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics. A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" claimed responsibility.

The explosions hit three subway stations and a double-decker bus in rapid succession between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. local time. Implementing an emergency plan, authorities immediately shut down the subway and bus lines that log 8.4 million passenger trips every weekday. It brought the city's transportation system to a halt.

"It was chaos," said Gary Lewis, 32, who was evacuated from a subway train at King's Cross station. "The one haunting image was someone whose face was totally black and pouring with blood."

Blair, flanked by fellow G-8 leaders, including President Bush, said: "We shall prevail and they shall not."

Earlier, a shaken Blair said, "Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilized nations throughout the world."

He departed by helicopter back to London, but said the meeting of the world leaders would continue. The G-8 summit's agenda got sidetracked, however, and they decided to delay declarations on climate change and the global economy.

Bush warned Americans to be "extra vigilant" as they head to work after the deadly explosions in London. He said he had conferred with federal homeland security officials back in Washington.

[Rasputin]

Much of Europe also went on alert. Italy's airports raised alert levels to a maximum. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, the Netherlands, France and Spain also were among those announcing beefed-up security at shopping centers, airports, railways and subways.

The U.N. Security Council was to meet later Thursday to address the London attacks and was expected to pass a resolution condemning the blasts, an official said.

A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" posted a claim of responsibility, saying the blasts were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The statement also threatened attacks in Italy and Denmark. It was published on a Web site popular with Islamic militants, according to Elaph, a secular Arabic-language news Web site, and Der Spiegel magazine in Berlin, which published the text on their Web sites.

The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately confirmed, but terrorism experts said the coordinated explosions had the trademarks of the al-Qaida network.

"This is clearly an al-Qaida style attack. It was well-coordinated, it was timed for a political event and it was a multiple attack on a transportation system at rush hour," said Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies at King's College in London.

European stocks dropped sharply after the blasts, with exchanges in London, Paris and Germany all down about 2 percent. Insurance and travel-related stocks were hit hard, and the British pound also fell. Gold, traditionally seen as a safe haven, rose.

The explosions also unnerved traders on Wall Street, sending stocks down sharply in morning trading.

The U.S. officials who gave the death toll spoke on condition of anonymity because British officials have yet to make the toll public. U.S. authorities learned of the number from their British counterparts, according to the official.

Officials at seven major hospitals surveyed by The Associated Press reported 358 people had been wounded, including more than 120 who were treated and released.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said the blasts that ripped through his city were "mass murder" carried out by terrorists bent on "indiscriminate ... slaughter."

"This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful ... it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners," said Livingstone, in Singapore where he supported London's Olympic bid. Giselle Davies, an International Olympic Committee spokeswoman, said the committee still had "full confidence" in London.

Jay Kumar, a business owner near the site of the blast that destroyed a double-decker bus at Russell Square in central London, said he ran out of his shop when he heard a loud explosion. He said the top deck of the bus had collapsed, sending people tumbling to the floor.

Many appeared badly injured, and bloodied people ran from the scene.

"A big blast, a big bomb," he told The Associated Press. "People were running this way panicked. They knew it was a bomb. Debris flying all over, mostly glass."

"I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double decker bus was in the air," Belinda Seabrook told Press Association, the British news agency.

Traces of explosives were found at two explosion sites, a senior police official said. Police confirmed fatalities but had not confirmed any numbers by early afternoon.

Pope Benedict XVI deplored the "terrorist attacks," calling them "barbaric acts against humanity," and said he was praying for the victim's families.

Explosions were reported at the Aldgate station near the Liverpool Street railway terminal, Edgware Road and King's Cross in north London, Old Street in the financial district and Russell Square, near the British Museum.

"I saw lots of people coming out covered in blood and soot. Black smoke was coming from the station. I saw several people laid out on sheets," office worker Kibir Chibber, 24, said at the Aldgate subway station.

Simon Corvett, 26, on an eastbound train from Edgware Road station, described "this massive huge bang ... It was absolutely deafening and all the windows shattered."

"You could see the carriage opposite was completely gutted," he said. "There were some people in real trouble."

London's cell phone network was working after the explosions but was overloaded and spotty, limiting communication.

On March 11, 2004, terrorist bombs on four commuter trains in Madrid killed 191 people.

[Rasputin]

Report: Islamic Group Claims London Blasts

AIRO, Egypt - A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" posted a claim of responsibility for Thursday's blasts in London, saying they were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The authenticity of the message could not be immediately confirmed.

The statement, which also threatened attacks in Italy and Denmark, was published on a Web site popular with Islamic militants, according to Elaph, a secular Arabic-language news Web site, and Der Spiegel magazine in Berlin, which published the text on their Web sites.

"Rejoice, Islamic nation. Rejoice, Arab world. The time has come for vengeance against the Zionist crusader government of Britain in response to the massacres Britain committed in Iraq and Afghanistan," said the statement, translated by The Associated Press in Cairo. The AP was unable to access the Web site where it was posted, which was closed quickly after the reports.

The group al-Qaida in Europe claimed responsibility for the last major terror attack in Europe: a string of bombs that hit commuter trains in Madrid, Spain in March 2004, killing 191 people. Two days after that attack, a video was found in a trash can outside a Madrid mosque with a statement purported to be from the group's spokesman, called by the nickname "Abu Dujan al Afghani."

In the new statement, the group said "the heroic mujahedeen carried out a blessed attack in London, and now Britain is burning with fear and terror, from north to south, east to west."

"We warned the British government and the British people repeatedly. We have carried out our promise and carried out a military attack in Britain after great efforts by the heroic mujahedeen over a long period to ensure its success."

"We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all crusader governments that they will receive the same punishment if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan," the statement went on.

It was signed "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe."

[Rasputin]

سرانجام وحشت اين که تروريسم ناشی از جنگ عراق به شهر پرجمعيت لندن بيايد به حقيقت پيوست. اين بار هم مثل اسپانيا انفجارها در شبکه ترافيک شهری بوقوع پيوست. صبح روز پنج شنبه چندين انفجار که در شبکه اتوبوس و قطار لندن صورت گرفت تعداد نامعلومی کشته و زخمی به جای گذاشت. اسکاتلند يارد از يک حمله سازمان يافته خبر داد.

مرکز لندن وضعيتی فاجعه بار دارد. شاهدان عينی به خبرنگاران و رسانه ها می گويند پيکر آدم ها را غرق در خون و دود ديده اند. در تصاوير تلويزيونی مشاهده می شود که مردم خون آلود را به بيمارستان منتقل می کنند. هلی کوپتر ها بر فراز شهر پرواز می کنند و آمبولانس ها در حال رفت و آمد هستند.

روزنامه های انگليسی از وقايع وحشت انگيز در ايستگاه های الگيت، ادگوير، کينگز کراس، اولد استريت و ميدان راسل گزارش داده اند.بنابر گزارش يک پزشک در اسکای نيوز تنها در ايستگاه الدگيت 90 نفر زخمی شده اند. بی بی سی آن لاين از دو کشته خبر داده است. به علت ترافيک سنگين تلفن های همراه وصل نمی شود و اخبار عمدتا از طريق شبکه ساتليت منتشر می شود.

علاوه بر ايستگاه های قطار چندين بمب درون چندين اتوبوس منفجر شده است. يک اتوبوس در ساعت 10.45 دقيقه به وقت لندن درميدان تاويستوک منفجر شده است . اين ميدان در فاصله کمی از ميدان راسل قرار دارد که در آن يک اتوبوس دو طبقه منفجر شد.

پليس انگلستان اين روزها نيروی خود را بر امنيت اجلاس جی 8 و جلوگيری از تظاهرات فعالين ضد سلطه شرکت های انحصاری متمرکز کرده بود. انگلستان ديروز خبر مربوط به برگزاری المپيک 2012 در بريتانيا را دريافت کرده و مردم در حالت جشن وسرور به خاطر اين خبر به سر می بردند.

به گزارش سی ان ان تونی بلر که در اولين روز گردهمايی سران به سر می برد گفته است که به لندن نمی آيد و اجلاس را ترک نمی کنند.به دنبال انتشار اين خبر و با توجه به ابعاد فاجعه انفجارهاى لندن، تغيير تصميم بلر و بازگشت به لندن توسط رسانه هاى خبرى اعلام گرديد.

براساس گزارش شبكه سى. ان. ان، نيروهاى مسلح در مناطق حساس و مركزى شهر لندن مستقر شده اند. شهردار لندن در پيامى از اهالى پايتخت خواسته است كه از رفت و آمد در مناطق مركزى شهر خوددارى كنند و فقط براى مواقع مطلقا ضرورى از تلفن استفاده كنند. شبكه حمل و نقل شهرى در جستجوى بمب هاى جديد از كار افتاده است. گفتنى است در حالى كه آمارهاى اوليه در باره تعداد كشته شده گان از 2 نفر تا 5 نفر و تعداد زخمى ها تا 90 نفر گزارش شده است، برخى منابع خبرى از جمله فاكس نيوز و اسكاى نيوز تعداد كشته شده گان انفجارها را كه تعداد آنها شش تا هفت انفجار گزارش شده 90 نفر اعلام كرده اند. بيمارستان هاى لندن به حالت آماده باش درآمده اند و در لندن وضعيت فوق العاده اعلام شده است.

[Rasputin]

U.S. Raising Terror Alert for Transit

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is raising the terror alert to code orange for mass transit in the wake of London explosions, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff planned to make the announcment at a press conference scheduled to start before noon. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made.

[Rasputin]

Candles are placed in front of a sign at Madrid's British embassy July 7, 2005. Countries in Europe tightened security on Thursday after four deadly bombings in London, fearing more attacks across the continent. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said that he had ordered the Interior Ministry to activate 'all of the alert and prevention systems'.

[Rasputin]

LONDON (Reuters) - The world recoiled in shock on Thursday after bombs tore through London's transport system killing 37 people in a coordinated rush-hour attack.

Countries in Europe and the United States stepped up security after the blasts and vowed to hunt down the militants who caused carnage in Britain, the closest U.S. ally, host to the G8 rich nations' meeting and EU president.

Messages of sympathy and condolences poured in from European and Middle Eastern nations, particularly those whose civilian populations had been targeted by militants, branding the attacks barbaric, repulsive and heinous.

"We Spaniards know well the suffering that the British people are going through today," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said, referring to train bombs in Madrid which killed 191 people last year. "We unite with their grief as they and so many other people united with ours."

London Mayor Ken Livingstone called the attacks "mass murder," Blair said they were "barbaric" and Queen Elizabeth referred to "the dreadful events in London."

President Bush stood side by side with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the G8 summit meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, to say world leaders reacted resolutely.

"Their resolve is as strong as my resolve," Bush said. "We will find them (the perpetrators). We will bring them to justice. And at the same time we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate."

Iran and Syria, both on Washington's list of states sponsoring terrorism, joined an unbroken chorus of condemnation, as did the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Lebanon's Shi'ite Muslim Hizbollah guerrillas.

[Rasputin]

SECURITY TIGHTENED

European transport systems tightened security.

"There is (heightened alert) in all of Europe," Italian Interior Minister Guiseppe Pisanu said. "As the violence breaks out again one must keep one's nerves steady and face it, with the force of law and with the rules of democracy."

Bush directed U.S. security authorities to be extra vigilant. "I have been in contact with the Homeland Security folks," the president said. There was condemnation and solidarity for the victims, the British government and its citizens, from statesmen, religious leaders and ordinary people from around the globe.

"I grieve with all Londoners at the wounds that have been inflicted on this wonderful city -- the city that is home to people from so many countries and cultures," U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the bombings were "inhuman crimes," Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern called them "a black mark on society" and Pope Benedict deplored "these barbaric acts against humanity."

"Lebanon, which has been the victim of violence for years, shares with the British their pain," said Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

The Olympic Committee, which had delighted London by awarding it the 2012 Games, expressed grief. "I'm deeply saddened that this should happen at the heart of an Olympic city," IOC President Jacques Rogge said. "Unfortunately there is no safe haven. No one can say their city is safe."

Echoing the views of Bush and his allies, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the bombs "underline the need for the international community and members of the Alliance to remain united in the fight against terrorism."

[Rasputin]

MIDDLE EAST SYMPATHY

The bombs drew shock and sympathy from Middle Eastern capitals, some of them all too familiar with street bloodshed.

"We've been experiencing terrorism for 30 years," said Samira Murr, a Lebanese teacher in her 50s, in Beirut. "It's like the Madrid bombings, like the 9/11 attacks. We feel we are not safe anywhere in the world any more."

"It is a heinous act," Saudi Arabia's Social Affairs Minister Abdulmohsen Al-Akkas said.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad condemned "these detested acts," while Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said the bombings showed "the need to stand up to the evil of terrorism in any country, as we are doing now in Iraq."

Arabic satellite channels such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya aired live footage of the scenes of the bombings that hit a bus and underground trains, as did Lebanese and Israeli media.

"We condemn with the strongest possible terms these explosions, and convey our sincere condolences to the British people and government," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom sought to compare the attacks with his country's struggle against Palestinian militants who have used suicide bombings against civilians.

"This attack shows us once again that terrorism is not Israel's problem only," he said.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, responsible for many suicide attacks on Israelis, condemned the London bombings.

"Targeting civilians in their transport means and lives is denounced and rejected," Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of the group's political bureau told Reuters in Damascus by telephone.

Leading Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim scholar Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah voiced outrage. "These crimes are not accepted by any religion. It is a barbarism wholly rejected by Islam," he said.

[Rasputin]

LONDON BOMBERS HUNTED

An intense police hunt is under way in Britain for terrorists behind a string of bombings on London's transport system that killed at least 37 people and wounded 700 early today. Investigators have not yet said whether they believe the bombers left explosives on three trains and a bus or mounted suicide attacks.

[ali san]

i live in london, i guess we are going through a typical day in iraq.................

[okiddi]

vayy...mardomo cheshone??!!! chera akhe??!! *noch, noch*

[Rasputin]

London bombings toll rises to 38

A series of bomb attacks on London's transport network has killed more than 30 people and injured about 700 others.
Three explosions on the Underground left 35 dead, two died in a blast on a bus and another died later in hospital.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the bombings had "the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda-related attack".

Prime Minister Tony Blair promised the "most intense police and security service action to make sure we bring those responsible to justice".

Mr Blair, who had returned to London from the G8 summit in Gleneagles, condemned the terrorists and paid tribute to the stoicism and resilience of the people of London.

"They are trying to use the slaughter of innocent people to cow us, to frighten us out of doing the things that we want to do," he said in a televised statement from Downing Street.

[Rasputin]

Hunt for survivors, bodies after London blasts

LONDON - Desperate Londoners hunted for missing relatives on Friday after suspected al Qaeda bombers killed more than 50 people in rush-hour blasts, while rescue workers struggled to retrieve bodies trapped deep underground. Fears of more attacks and false alarms kept commuters and financial markets jittery, while authorities worldwide went on alert following threats from Islamic militants to strike other countries which, like Britain, have troops in Iraq. A day after four bombs tore through three underground trains and a double-decker bus, the capital slowly got back to work. Many people took the day off, but others ventured back onto London's creaking transport network, some fearful, many defiant.