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Template:WikinewsList On Thursday 7 July 2005 a series of seven bomb explosions struck London's public transport system during the morning rush hour. Six London Underground trains were hit in the central city around 08:50 within seconds of each other. A double-decker London Bus was hit around an hour later. At least 49 people were killed and up to 700 people were reported injured, including 22 in a serious or critical condition.

In the wake of the bombings, local authorities shut down the Underground network, closed many roads near the affected stations, and halted the city's bus network in the central zone (Zone 1). Mainline train services into many London stations terminated outside the city for most of the day.

Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said that the explosions were probably the result of a "major terrorist attack" but did not speculate on who might be responsible for the attack. The attacks took place as the UK was hosting the first full day of the 31st G8 summit at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, and a day after London was chosen to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The bombings were the deadliest single act of terrorism in the United Kingdom since 270 died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, and the deadliest peacetime incident in London since the Harrow & Wealdstone station rail crash of 1952.

Note: All times are in British Summer Time (BST), which is UTC+1.

Bombings

Each explosion is believed to have been caused by an improvised explosive device containing up to 4 kg (10 pounds) of high explosive, placed on the floors of the train carriages and on the top deck of the bus.

Attack on the Underground network

At first, these attacks were believed to have occured within half an hour of each other. However, it was later revealed that they all occured at 08:50, within 50 seconds of each other. This suggests that the bombers used timing devices to set off explosives, rather than a manual detonation of the bombs.

• A bomb exploded on the floor of the third carriage of a Circle Line sub-surface underground train number 204 travelling eastbound from Liverpool Street towards Aldgate. The explosion took place 100 yards into the tunnel.
• A bomb exploded on the second carriage of a Circle Line sub-surface underground train number 216 travelling westbound just leaving Edgware Road for Paddington. The explosion on the train destroyed a wall separating two tunnels causing the wall to collapse onto a train on an adjoining platform.
• A bomb exploded on a Piccadilly Line deep-level underground train number 311 travelling southbound from King's Cross St. Pancras towards Russell Square. The explosion took place on the first carriage of the train by the first set of double doors, causing severe damage to the surrounding tunnel as well.

Two more suspicious packages were found on underground trains and were destroyed using controlled explosions. Police later said they turned out not to be bombs.

The effects of the bombs on the trains are thought to have varied due to the differing characteristics of the Underground network's tunnels. The central portion of the network comprises two types of tunnels:

• Sub-surface lines (e.g. the Circle Line) – these lines are only a short distance underground, up to about 7 m (21 ft), and are constructed by excavating a trench and roofing it over ("cut and cover"). The sub-surface tunnels are relatively wide with two parallel tracks. The explosions on the Circle Line were likely to have been able to vent out into the tunnel, probably lessening the number of casualties.

• Deep lines (e.g. the Piccadilly Line) – these lines can be over 30 m (approximately 100 ft) underground and are single-track circular tubes into which trains fit with only a narrow clearance on all sides. The blast was thus likely to have been much more concentrated, probably explaining the higher death toll on the Piccadilly Line train.

Attack on a double-decker bus

• At 09:47 an explosion occurred on the rear upper deck of a No. 30 double-decker bus travelling on its route from Marble Arch to Hackney. The bus had been diverted to avoid the area around Kings Cross station which had been closed due to the Piccadilly Line bomb. At the time of the explosion the bus had stopped while travelling through Tavistock Square as the driver asked for directions. The explosion ripped the roof off the top deck of the vehicle and destroyed the back of the bus.

The detonation took place close to the British Medical Association (BMA) building on Upper Woburn Place, and a number of doctors in the building were able to provide immediate emergency medical assistance. BBC Radio 5 and The Sun newspaper later reported that two injured bus passengers said that they saw a man exploding in the bus. One passenger quoted in The Independent newspaper said he disembarked from the bus at the stop prior to the explosion, and reported seeing an agitated young, olive-skinned man who kept dipping into his bag every few moments. Two other people caught in the bombing made similar claims of an "increasingly agitated" passenger. If verified, this could indicate the identity of one of the bombers perhaps on an intentional, or unintentional, suicide bombing mission; or an innocent traveller on the bus. Both versions are consistent with comments made two days after the bombings by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, who said there was no evidence of an intentional suicide bombing because the bus-borne device appeared to have exploded in a bag rather than from being strapped to a person.

The bus bomb exploded towards the rear of the vehicle's top deck, totally destroying that portion of it but leaving the front of the bus surprisingly intact. Most of the passengers at the front of the top deck are believed to have survived, as did those on the lower deck including the driver, but those at the top rear took the brunt of the explosion. The extreme physical damage caused to the victims' bodies resulted in a lengthy delay in announcing the death toll from the bombing while the police determined how many bodies were present. A number of passers-by were also injured by the explosion and surrounding buildings were damaged by fragments.

Casualties

The bombings killed at least 49 people, making them the deadliest attack in London since the Second World War, the deadliest incident in the history of the London Underground, after the Moorgate tube crash of February 1975 (43 dead), and the deadliest incident of any sort in the capital since the Harrow & Wealdstone station rail crash of 1952. They were the second most-deadly terrorist attack in the UK, after the Lockerbie bombing and ahead of the 1998 Omagh bombing (29 people) and the 1974 Birmingham pub bombing (21 people). There has only been one previous bomb attack on a London bus in recent times, on 18 February 1996, in which the only fatality was the Provisional Irish Republican Army member transporting the device.

At least 90 injuries were reported from Aldgate Station alone. Ninety-five of the injured were taken by bus to the Royal London Hospital where they were treated; 17 were in critical condition. Many others were being treated at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. Individuals who were wounded and walking were treated at the scene; an eyewitness reported that they were "operating on injured people on the concourse at Liverpool Street station".

Paramedics were sent down into the tube system to search for more casualties. St. John Ambulance and Berkshire Ambulance Service were called out to assist the London Ambulance Service, and hospitals called in off-duty staff, plus doctors from as far afield as Hampshire and Oxfordshire.

At a press conference on 8 July, it was revealed that of 700 people injured in the explosions, 350 were treated on the scene and 350 were treated at hospitals (208 of them at the Royal London Hospital ). One hundred were kept in hospitals overnight, and 22 were listed as being in "serious" or "critical" condition. One person died in hospital from their injuries.

Many of the injured were foreign nationals, including people from Sierra Leone, Australia, South Africa, Colombia, Poland and the People's Republic of China, causing some language difficulty. When investigators fully clear the rubble and debris at the site of each explosion, the final death count will most likely be more precise; current estimates vary widely.

Police have confirmed that there are further bodies in the tunnel near Russell Square; investigations there have been hampered by fears that the tunnel is unsafe. The number of bodies is as yet unknown, but is thought to be up to 20.

Investigation

After the conclusion of the operation to remove the dead and injured, police investigation teams began the painstaking process of examining the crime scenes for evidence. The key pieces of evidence included: traces of high-explosive material, DNA evidence, footage from London's extensive network of CCTV cameras, and voice and Internet telecommunications intercepts.

In a press conference at 11:00 on 8 July, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair revealed that each of the four bombs probably consisted of less than ten pounds of high explosive, probably placed on the floor of the trains, and either on the floor or on a seat of the bus. At a press conference the following day, it was made clear that the explosives were not thought to be home-made. Blair also reported that there was no evidence that the bombings were suicide attacks.

Claims of responsibility

The Independent reported that an Islamist website run by a London based Iraqi-born doctor had a post of a 200-word statement claiming responsibility for the attacks. The news magazine Der Spiegel in Germany and BBC Monitoring both reported that a group named "Secret Organisation—al-Qaeda in Europe" had posted an announcement claiming responsibility on the al-Qal3ah ("The Castle") Internet forum. The announcement claims the attacks are a response due to the British involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the US invasion of Afghanistan. The letter also warned other governments involved in Iraq (mentioning specifically Denmark and Italy) to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. A Saudi commentator in London, however, noted that the statement was grammatically poor, and that a Qur'anic quotation was incorrect.

"Al Qaeda in Europe": translated statement

On 7 July, a person using the name "Nur al-Iman" and identified as a "new guest" posted to Qal3ah with a statement issued by "The Secret Organisation Group of Al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in Europe". In the statement, the group claims responsibility for the "raid" on London. The following is a translated text of the statement:

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.

Nations of Islam and Arab nations: 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, "If ye will aid (the cause of) God, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly".

The quotation at the end of the statement is taken from the Qur'an, Sura 47:7, using the translation of Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

The term ghazw, here translated as "raid", refers to the al-Qaeda concept that the West is so mired in corruption that it will only come to its senses through the commission of spectacular ghazawāt (raids). In Islam, those who carry out ghazawāt are called ghāzīs, second only in distinction to a shahid or martyr. A ghāzī who also becomes a shahid will be doubly meritorious. As the Cambridge History of Islam puts it, "For the ghāzīs in the marches , it was a religious duty to ravage the countries of the infidels who resisted Islam, and to force them into subjection." See Ghazw for more detailed information on this topic.

Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade

An unconfirmed statement claiming responsibility for another Al Qaeda-linked group, Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade, has been posted on the internet. The group has previously falsely claimed responsibility for events that were the result of technical problems, such as the 2003 London blackout and 2003 North America blackout.

Speculation and Theories

The attacks bear similarities to the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings and suggest an attack in the style of Al-Qaeda. However, the bombs were much smaller than those used in the Madrid bombings—which were more than twice the size—and, according to police, they may have been much cruder. This may have accounted for the lower death toll than in Madrid as well as the possibly accidental detonation of one of the bombs on the bus.

Budapest-based security analyst Sebestyén Gorka told the Reuters wire service that "the first thing that's very obvious is the synchronised nature of the attacks, and that's pretty classic for Al-Qaeda or organisations related to Al-Qaeda". UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that the attack "has the hallmarks of an al Qaeda related attack".

Arguments in favour of Al-Qaeda involvement:

• Bombs were detonated nearly simultaneously;
• No warnings were given;
• The bombs were detonated early in the day allowing for maximum media coverage; and
• The bombs were detonated at a time and location which could be expected to inflict maximum death and injury to a civilian population.

Arguments against Al-Qaeda involvement:

• No known suicide bombers were involved in the attacks;
• The scale of the bombings were limited in comparison to previous Al-Qaeda attacks that occurred 11 September 2001 in America and the bombings that occurred 11 March 2004 in Madrid, Spain;
• Islamist web sites that claimed responsibility for the bombings in London are unreliable.

Issues

Some news stories current a few hours after the attacks raised a query over the official position that there had been no warning or prior intelligence. It was reported on CBS News that a senior Israeli official said that British police told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before the explosions that they had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city. An Associated Press report carried on a number of news sites, including The Guardian, attributed the initial report of a warning to an Israeli "Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity", but added Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's later denial on Israel Army Radio, "There was no early information about terrorist attacks". A similar report on the site of right-wing Israeli radio station Arutz Sheva / Israel National News attributed the story to "Army Radio quoting unconfirmed reliable sources".

Reactions and impacts

Security alerts

Although there were security alerts at many locations, no other terrorist activities occurred outside central London.

Security alerts were reported at Brighton, Luton and Swindon in addition to other locations. In Brighton there was a controlled explosion of a suspicious briefcase at approximately 12:55 in a telephone box outside Brighton station. The briefcase was later found to be harmless, and the station was re-opened. East Croydon station was closed due to a suspect package, but was later re-opened. There were reports of Victoria Station being cordoned off by police amid reports of a "suspicious package" on a bus near the station.

Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow was completely evacuated for an hour and a half starting at 3 PM due to a bomb scare there. This was later found to have been a false alarm, after a search of the premises. No controlled explosions were carried out.

A Principles store in the East end of Princes Street in Edinburgh was also evacuated when a suspicious package was found. The police had been lifting cordons, but the bomb squads were called back in and a controlled explosion was performed. This was also found to be a false alarm.

There were also reports of a controlled explosion at Pool Meadow bus station in Coventry where the entire central ringroad of the city was closed by police for two hours, as well as two controlled explosions carried out on a Lothian Buses double-decker on Princes Street in the centre of Edinburgh at around 17:30 neither contained explosives.

In Poole the train station was also closed in response to the discovery of a suspicious package. Staff and customers were locked in the supermarket building opposite. The package was later detonated by police in a controlled explosion.

There were bomb scares in Sheffield city centre, and in Nottingham city centre, with Market Square being sealed off at 10.00pm. The 18:00 BBC News broadcasts on radio and television were briefly interrupted, and BBC Television Centre, and the neighbouring News Centre evacuated, as a result of a suspect package being found on a bus.

Prime Minister of France Dominique de Villepin announced that France had increased its level of terror alert to red, the second-highest level, in response to the events in London. Meanwhile, Berlin transport officials indicated that security alert levels for the public transport system of the German capital had been raised to yellow, the second of four levels.

In the United States the Department of Homeland Security raised the terror alert level to orange specifically for mass transit. Seattle, for example, had Seattle police and King County sheriffs patrolling at each stop in the downtown bus tunnel.

On 8 July there were numerous security alerts around London as greater public vigilance saw more incidents, which all turned out to be false, being reported. There was also a controlled explosion in Worcester on the same day, and large parts of Birmingham city centre were evacuated and closed on Saturday evening, 9 July.

Transport and telecommunication disruption

Vodafone reported that its mobile phone network reached capacity at about 10:00 on the day of the incident, and it was forced to initiate emergency procedures to prioritise emergency calls (ACCOLC). Other mobile phone networks also reported failures. The BBC had speculated that the phone system had been closed by the security services to prevent the possibility of mobile phones being used to trigger bombs. Although this option was in fact considered, it was later revealed that the intermittent unavailability of both mobile and landline phone systems was merely due to heavy usage, as many people called family and friends in the area to determine their whereabouts and safety.

For most of the day, London's public transport system was effectively crippled because of the complete closure of the underground system, the closure of the Zone 1 bus networks, and the evacuation of Russell Square. Bus services restarted at 4pm the same day, and most main-line train stations reopened shortly after. Tourist river vessels were pressed into service to provide a free alternative to the overcrowded trains and buses. Thousands of people chose to walk home or make their way to the nearest Zone 2 bus or train station. Most of the Underground aside from the affected stations restarted the next morning, though many commuters chose to stay at home.

Much of Kings Cross station was also closed, with the ticket hall and waiting area being used as a makeshift hospital to treat casualties on the spot. Although the station reopened later in the day, only suburban rail services were able to use it, with Intercity trains terminating at Peterborough. The Underground station at Kings Cross remained closed in order to facilitate the ongoing recovery and investigation effort.

Economic impact

There were limited immediate reactions to the attack in the world economy as measured by financial market and exchange rate activity. The pound fell 0.89 cents to a 19-month low against the U.S. dollar. However, stock markets fell less than some had feared. The FTSE 100 Index fell by about 200 points in the two hours after the first attack. This was its biggest fall since the start of the war in Iraq, and triggered the stock market's special measures, restricting panic selling and aimed at ensuring market stability. However, by the time the market closed it had recovered to only 71.3 points (1.36 per cent) down on the previous day's three-year closing high. Markets in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain also closed about 1 per cent down on the day.

US market indexes rose slightly, in part because the dollar index rose sharply against the pound and Euro. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 31.61 to 10,302.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.01 to 2075.66. The Standard & Poor S&P 500 Index rose 2.93 points to 1197.87 after declining up to 1 per cent. Every benchmark gained 0.3 per cent.

The markets picked up again on 8 July as it became clear that the damage caused by the bombings was not as great as initially thought. By close of trading the market had fully recovered to above its level at start of trading on 7 July. Insurers in the UK tend to reinsure their terrorist liabilities in excess of the first GBP75m with Pool Re, a mutual insurer set up by the government with leading insurers. Pool Re has substantial reserves and newspaper reports indicate that claims will be easily covered.

On 9 July, the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority revealled that they had instigated contingency plans immediately after the attacks to ensure that the UK financial markets could keep trading. This involved the activation of a "secret chatroom" on the British Government's Financial Sector Continuity website. , that allowed the institutions to communicate with the country's banks and market dealers.

Public reaction

Media reports both within the UK and other countries commented on the lack of hysteria among the public and administration to the events. Commentators attributed this to people being accustomed to incidents of this type owing to the actions of Irish republican terrorists, principally the Provisional IRA from the 1970s onwards, when a bombing campaign was instituted on the UK mainland. The oldest generation of Londoners are doubly inured owing to the Blitz during the Second World War. Following the terrorist attacks in New York and Madrid, many Londoners were expecting terrorism to arrive in the city eventually. Multiple news reports and commentary in the United States stressed the perceived "inevitability" of such attacks in major European cities since the September 11th attacks. The London bombings have raised a greater awareness in metropolitan areas throughout the world of the need for stronger security in public transportation systems.

Response from public figures

Timeline

Note: Two days after the event the Police announced that following examination of London Transport records it appeared that the three train explosions occurred "almost simultaneously", around 50 seconds apart.. Prior to that announcement the "official" time of the Edgeware Road explosion was given as 09:17. The police explained that this was the time of the first emergency call that specifically mentioned an explosion, though other calls about the incident had already been received.

• 08:51 — Initial reports of an incident between Liverpool Street and Aldgate tube stations, either an explosion or a collision between trains. The reports from the two stations were initially thought to relate to two separate incidents.
• 08:51 — Explosion on train between Kings' Cross and Russell Square. Eyewitnesses report explosion appeared to come from outside the train.
• 08:51 — Explosion on train at Edgware Road tube station.
• 09:28 — Tube operator Metronet says the incident was caused by some sort of power surge.
• 09:33 — Reports of an incident at Edgware Road tube station. Reports that passengers on a train hit by an explosion attempted to break windows with umbrellas in order to escape.
• 09:46 — British Transport Police announce there had been more explosions at Kings' Cross, Old Street, Moorgate and Russell Square, which they believe to be further power surges.
• 09:47 — Explosion on number 30 bus travelling between Marble Arch and Hackney at Upper Woburn Place/Tavistock Square.
• 09:49 — Entire London Underground system shut down.
• 10:00 — National Grid announce there had been no problem with power surges.
• 10:02 — Scotland Yard confirms that a "major incident" has taken place.
• 10:40 — First report of fatalities, government source speaks of 20 dead.
• 11:08 — Bus services suspended across central London.
• 11:10 — Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair confirms fears that it is a coordinated terror attack, but appeals for calm, asking people not to travel to London or make unnecessary calls to the emergency services.
• 12:05 — Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks out on the incident, calling the attacks a coordinated series of "barbaric" terrorist attacks.
• 17:30 — Having flown back from Scotland, Prime Minister Tony Blair emerges from a meeting in Downing Street and urges the public not to "be terrorised".
• 18:13 — Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Brian Paddick confirms 37 fatalities: two in the bus explosion at Upper Woburn Place/Tavistock Square, seven at Liverpool Street/Aldgate, seven at Edgware Road, and twenty-one in the Kings Cross/Russell Square blast, as well as around seven hundred injuries, with roughly three hundred of those being transported by ambulance to London hospitals.
• 21:40 — The Metropolitan Police announce that a person injured in one of the blasts has since died in hospital care.

Initial reports

The first reports suggested that a power surge in the Underground power grid had caused trackside explosions. However, this was later ruled out by the National Grid, the power suppliers. Commentators suggested that the explanation had arisen because of bomb damage to power lines along the tracks; the rapid series of power failures caused by the explosions looked similar, from the point of view of a control room operator, to a cascading series of circuit breaker operations that would result from a major power surge.

One eyewitness reported:

I was in the midst of this when it happened. The Metropolitan line was halted, then the Jubilee. The train driver announced a "power surge on the combine" Trains were then brought into the nearest station and the passengers requested to evacuate. The tube staff were very calm and efficient, and I didn't see any panic. There was definitely a sense that something unusual had happened, and people were mostly silent as we filed out to the sound of recorded evacuation messages.

It was initially reported that there were six or seven explosions on the Underground. This was mostly due to some explosions occurred on trains that were between stations. The wounded emerged from two stations in such cases, as survivors were evacuated in both directions along the tunnels, giving the impression that there were separate incidents, one at each station. There were also entirely spurious reports of explosions affecting Old Street station and Moorgate station.

British Red Cross relief fund

A relief fund has been set up for victims of the bombings and donations can be made at the British Red Cross website

Contact numbers

Special contact numbers have been issued for those trying to find friends or relatives:

• Casualty Hotline (Metropolitan Police): 0870 156 6344 (UK)   +44 870 156 6344 (International)
• Metropolitan Police: 020 7766 6020 (UK)   +44 20 7766 6020 (International)
• British Transport Police: 020 8358 0101 (UK)   +44 20 8358 0101 (International)
• Those outside the UK should see the list of Foreign Ministry contact details.

People with information regarding the bombings can report it to the following number:

• Home Office anti-terrorist hotline 0800 789 321 (UK)

See also

The following is a list of articles about other significant terrorist incidents (attacks on infrastructure, civilians or involving public transport) which may be helpful in providing context to the events in London:

Terrorist attacks on transport systems

• Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway (20 March 1995)
• Islamist terror bombings in France (July–October 1995)
• 1996 IRA London bus bomb (February 1996)
• Jerusalem bus 32A massacre (18 June 2002)
• Jerusalem bus 20 massacre (21 November 2002)
• Jerusalem bus 2 massacre (19 August 2003)
• 2003 Istanbul bombings (15 November and 20 November 2003)
• Moscow Metro bombing (6 February 2004)
• Madrid train bombings (11 March 2004)

Other large-scale attacks

• Mumbai, 260 dead (12 March 1993)
• 9/11 attacks in the United States (11 September 2001)
• 2001 Anthrax attacks (18 September 2001) and (9 October 2001)
• 2002 Bali bombing (12 October 2002)
• Casablanca Attacks (16 May 2003)
• Beslan school hostage crisis (1–3 September 2004)
• List of terrorist attacks by death toll

External links and references

• London Attacks — BBC News In Depth
• London bombs terror attack — The Times
• Attack on London — Guardian Unlimited Special Report
• London Terror — CNN
• Large collection of photos from Flickr

• Current events
• 2005
• London history
• Terrorist incidents in 2005
• Terrorism in the United Kingdom
• Terrorist incidents on railway systems
• Al-Qaeda