Incidents Reported Near Tube Stations

[muriel_volestrangler]

A series of incidents have been reported near Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush stations on the London Underground.

The station have been evacuated. Smoke was seen coming from a train.

Speaking to Sky News, one witness who was travelling on one of the trains said a man told him that a passenger carrying a rucksack made an exclamation and then the rucksack exploded.

The witness said: "The doors connecting my carriage to the next burst open and people rushed in. "There was a smell of smoke."

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1189833,00.html

On BBC ticker http://news.bbc.co.uk/


I'll link more when it's on the net.

Update: 'an explosion on a bus' in Hackney reported on Sky News; Reuters is describing the Warren St. incident as a 'nail bomb'; and some have describing it as the sound of gunshots, which others think were detonators going off, without a main explosion.

Final edit: one injury at Warren St., say British Transport Police, but they gave no details at all for how serious it was.

[KittyWampus]

1. maybe it's just a track fire... hoping

[sniffa]

2. see? the brits don't know how to react to terror

if they had gone out and bought fLags, this wouLd not have happned.

[Drifter]

3. Give'm time to ...

attack a non-involved, sovereign nation. They'll see it's the only way to fight terra.

Cheers
Drifter

[sniffa]

4. iceLand

their day of reckoning is coming.

[ticapnews]

10. Do they have oil?

Maybe they can retake Canada :P

[Tyrone Slothrop]

140. And duct tape

Don't forget duct tape.

Gotta have duct tape when the shit goes down.

(This post was sponsored by 3M)

[BooScout]

5. More...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/21/london.tube/index.html

London Tube stations evacuated

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Emergency services personnel are attending three different Tube stations in central London following reports of "incidents," police said on Thursday.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson told CNN that Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and Oval stations had all been evacuated.

There are no reports of any casualties at this stage, sources told the UK Press Association.

London Underground confirmed that services on three lines were suspended following a number of incidents, according to PA.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/21/london.tube/index.html

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. Discussion going on in GD...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4155044

[Rhiannon12866]

7. London Tube stations evacuated

Thursday, July 21, 2005; Posted: 8:36 a.m. EDT (12:36 GMT)

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Emergency services personnel are attending three different Tube stations in central London following reports of "incidents," police said on Thursday.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson told CNN that Warren Street, Shepherds Bush and Oval stations had all been evacuated.

There are no reports of any casualties at this stage, sources told the UK Press Association.

London Underground confirmed that services on three lines -- Victoria, Northern and Hammermith and City -- were suspended following the incidents, according to PA.

No further information is yet available. Passengers at Warren Street reported seeing smoke but police could not confirm this.

One Victoria Line passenger said a traveler's rucksack exploded on the Tube outside Warren Street station.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/21/london.tube/index.html

[QuettaKid]

12. Look for the Kingstar vans. nt.

.

[Rhiannon12866]

143. Guardian: Alert after explosions in London: 4.40pm (GMT) update

· 3 tube stations and bus affected
· Less serious than July 7 - police
· 'Armed police enter hospital'

Terrified passengers were evacuated from London's transport system today after incidents involving minor explosives at three underground stations and a bus.
The incidents are at Warren Street tube station in central London; Oval, in south London; Shepherd's Bush in west London and on a No 26 bus at the junction of Hackney Road and Columbia Road in Hackney, east London.

The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, appealed to Londoners to "stay where you are" in what he described as a "very serious incident".

Comparing today's incidents to the July 7 attacks, Sir Ian said: "These are smaller devices. Some of them have not gone off properly."

The attacks were "pretty close to simultaneous", Sir Ian said. But the situation was "fully under control".

The prime minister, Tony Blair, said later that there appeared to have been no casualties from today's blasts in London and he urged people to get on with their business as normal.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1533382,00.html

[DS1]

8. Fox News ( hey, it's the only free cable news) reports a nail bomb

went off but no casualities, and someone heard gunshots which others are suspecting were bomb detonators that went off but failed to trigger bomb.

[moggie]

67. Have they said it's time to buy?

Could be money to be made off this...

[DS1]

74. dunno, watched a feed of sky news and went back to work

:shrug:

[lockdown]

9. "No serious casualties so far" - BBC

Lots of reports of smoke and panic on the news, but not explosions. In at least one case, not even the person with the "device" injured. A witness was reported as saying the man setting something off looked surprised himself, sounds like smoke bombs or something.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. Something similar was just mentioned on the radio.

Possibly just detonator (s) and not the bomb itself. Unclear if it was a bomb that failed to detonate, or just someone scaring the piss out of everyone with just the detonator.

[lockdown]

14. Eye witness - man responsible at Oval station did a runner

Said passengers were shouting for someone to stop him, but he ran up escalators and got out the station. She didn't mention any casualties, nor has anyone else, if they were nail bombs they didn't work. No mention of nail bombs at all on BBC.

[woodsprite]

65. Friend just reported in from London and said

"as I know it - 3 stations closed, 3 lines closed, nail bomb explosion fairly minor and now reporting incident on bus."

Her building is in lockdown due to the evacuations.

[leftchick]

13. Nail bomb said to explode on London tube-source

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050721/ts_nm/security_britain_train_dc

Not much else...

LONDON (Reuters) - A nail bomb exploded at London's Warren Street underground station on Thursday, a source at a city transport company said.

The source also said there was a report of one shooting but did not specify where.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. Also have been reports...

...that the gunshot(s) were in fact multiple detonators going off.

[Mr.Green93]

16. We must have peace talks

When will we some leader with courage step forward ?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

20. Peace talks with who?

The leadership of a nonexistent web-like organisation?

[halobeam]

28. might that be Bush talking to Blair and Blair talking to Bush?

gees... I'm so suspicious of this whole thing and I hate that I feel this way.

[AuntiBush]

166. I'm With You, "halobeam!" The "timing" is too Coincidental.

Like that last one. Sadly, I question who is funding those attacks and I take what I say very seriously. It was my first thought, first instinct! Like who was behind the Anthrax towards some of our Dem's, and on and on...

These attacks seem too "coincidental." The timing is impeccable to * pushing the Patriot Act that went through today in the House AND *'s scandal(s) sheet growing skywards daily.

Sorry to anyone that disagrees. Its taken me many years to listen to inner instincts, thus far almost always on the sad dime.

[theboss]

104. Who the hell do you meet with?

There are probably hundreds if not thousands of terrorist cells all over the world, all with different leaders and different agendas.

Tell me:

1. Who do you meet with?
2. What you offer them once they show up?

[Mr.Green93]

131. The West must resolve

it's conflicts with Islam. This can be done with negotiations.

[theboss]

136. And who do you negotiate with?

And what terms shall we bring them?

[Almost_there]

139. And which leader of Islam?

I don't know that you understand Islam very well.. Unlike some Christian religions, such as Catholics who have a Pope, Baptists who have a convention leader, Anglicans who have a Archbishop, who in Islam do you meet with? Which of the tens of thousands of Imams, which of the radical or conservative or progressive group do you choose? There is no central leader of Islam, each country, faction and sect has their own leader.

And sure, let's meet with them, I agree.. the ones that typically meet are moderates or even progressives, who are offended at the hijacking of their religion for political gains.

Radical muslim clerics who declare jihad against anyone and their mother (radical Imams have declared jihad on eachother, if you follow the news) have no desire to meet with leaders. I think you misread them quite badly.

Give me an example of their ultimate goal. What is it? To have their own country? Many of these people are from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, all sovereign nations, what would they like? One massive Islamic country? Or, would they simply like to bring fear and terror to the world, showing the power of Islam, the strength of its followers and their devotion to its faith?

Seriously.. what's their ultimate goal? They are scattered across many countries, they don't want their own. They have Hezbollah, but, they aren't a political group, per se. They don't want to spread Islam through missionary work. They simply want to kill, spread fear, and bring the world into their mindset. This isn't new, this has been going on for MILLENIA.

[CJCRANE]

152. True

but without huge illegalities like Guanatanamo, invasion of Iraq, Abu Ghraib etc they wouldn't get much support.

The War on Terror has increased the terror (because in reality it was just a smokescreen for a smash and grab raid on Iraq).

[Frederik]

168. I disagree

"They simply want to kill, spread fear, and bring the world into their mindset. This isn't new, this has been going on for MILLENIA."

The aim of political Islamism is very clearly 1) to put an end to Western/non-Muslim meddling and influence in the Islamic world, and 2) to establish Islamist regimes in predominantly Muslim countries. Afghanistan under the Taliban was seen as a beacon in this respect, Saudi Arabia and Sudan are close, but no cigar. Iran is seen as a good example by many Shi'ites, such as Hezbollah, which have little to do with Sunni groups affiliated with "al-Qa'ida", al-Jihad al-Islami or similar groups supported by factions of the Saudi oligarchy (Bin Laden et al.) and by factions within Pakistan's national security establishment.

It's a very modern phenomenon. Violent Sunni Islamism stems from the radicalization of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the 1970s, which culminated in the murder of president Sadat in 1981 - a murder in which Bin Laden's "Cheney", the true leader of al-Qa'ida/Qa'ida al-Jihad, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was involved. This is not something that has been going on for milennia, Islam itself only being a milennium and a half old.

There's a very obvious reason why Britain is a target and not, say, Sweden or Brazil. If the Islamists simly wanted to attack Christianity, wouldn't the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro be a perfect target?

[anotherdrew]

162. with as many imams and national leaders as can be found

[chunkylover55]

165. Peace talks. Are you being serious?

The terrorists have no interest in peace.

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. BBC now saying "detonators only"...

idiots inspired by the 7 July bombers and trying to create a panic, sounds like (at least until we know more).

[lockdown]

18. Police - "Not serious incidents"

Thank fuck. Time to switch back to the test match. ;)

[ticapnews]

19. Tony Blair cancels planned trip to a school...

and we all know what book he would have been reading to the children.

[meganmonkey]

23. What - Bush's Pet Goat?

:silly:

[area51]

171. Or Tony bLIAR would read ...

More like Bush's Pet Poodle.

[meganmonkey]

21. At least one injury reported on NPR just now...n/t

[Maddy McCall]

22. Why it doesn't matter if it was detonators or bombs.

The point of terrorism is to keep the enemy population on guard, so that they erode their own civil liberties and drain their resources fighting against a threat that is PERCEIVED as very real.

The perception of an iminent threat is the WHOLE point of terrorism. Killing people isn't necessary. Making people believe that they COULD BE killed is the goal.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

24. I agree

You thought you were safe? See how easy it would be to do it again?

I think that's probably the message.

[janedoe]

122. Reruns....

But, don't you think the Patriot Act will get the rubber stamp, now?

[bassman79]

106. Who would want to erode civil liberties?

The terrorists

or

The Government?

[jim3775]

25. BBC reporting 1 person injured at Warren Street and...

the bomber who set of a detonator on the upper level of a bus got away and someone who's rucksack exploded got away as well.




Cross posted in GD.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

27. Let me be the first to say...

These terrorists SUCK.

[Frederik]

84. Let me be the first to say

Bush and Blair brought the intifada to London.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. Reports of Armed Police entering UCL hospital

according to Reuters, via Sky News.

Looking for the suspect, perhaps?

[maddezmom]

53. ABC news reported the same

[still_one]

29. Report: Explosions on London underground, bus

Report: Explosions on London underground, bus

By Haaretz Staff and Agencies

Passengers in three London underground stations were evacuated Thursday afternoon as Transport Police reported "ongoing incidents" on the trains system, TV station Sky News reported. Some twenty minutes later the Scotland Yard confirmed a bus had been attacked in East London.

No casualties were reported in any of the incidents.


http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/603125.html

[AussieDave]

30. Dummy explosions using detonators

maybe not as serious as it first sounded......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4703777.stm

[still_one]

31. thanks for the update

[leveymg]

34. Who would do this "strategy of tension" stuff, and why?

Phony explosives reek of political dirty-tricks. What's going on here?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

35. Several possibilities.

1) Incompetent terrorists (hey, they've gotta have some, don't they?)
2) Copycats
3) Loony far-right bigots trying to stir up racial tensions.

[underpants]

38. I pic #2-amateur copycats

that would be my guess.

Scum also

[Viva_La_Revolution]

55. #4 - Loony far-left anti-war activists trying to drum up support...

Unfortunately, we can't leave out that possibility.

[Frederik]

85. Huh?

When has that ever happened anywhere in the world? May I ask, do you generally find those who object to wars of aggression "looney"?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

95. ?! of course not.

I don't find left wingers (of which I am by the way) any less crazy than some right wingers. There are just fewer bad-looney types in their camp. And I have heard 'plots' from left wingers that describe doing something stupid like this. However, then the pot wears off, usually. :P

[navvet]

132. At the risk of getting flamed

I remember bombings in this country by anti-war types during the Viet Nam protests.

So there is precedent for left groups to resort to violence, although as of recent times these groups have remained peaceful.

[Coastie for Truth]

173. Was FLQ rightist, leftist or just plain nationalist

My former Montreal/now Toronto relatives claimed that Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) and Parti Quebecois and Levesque were right wing and racist. Any Canadians have input.

[Almost_there]

142. G-8 Protests haven't given us a good name...

Actually, all you really have to do to find black eyes for the progressive movement is check out G8 summit meetings and the bombings and protests that have gone along with them. I believe several McDonald's have been bombed, along with some other shops etc in conjunction with a G8. So, there's your answer.

The point is that you can't leave ANYONE out. The thing about 2 weeks since the last bombing is that often, crazy Muslim terrorists have used anniversaries as big things, 6 months since this, 5 years since that, retaliation from this 1 year ago, whatever. 2 weeks to the day, EXACTLY the same type (3 subways, 1 bus) smacks of a terrorist plot. Until all the news shakes out, this might have been 4 bombs exactly as 2 weeks ago, and the blasting caps went off ("shots fired" was reported several times) but, the explosive packages failed. If the bomb material was bad, or setup wrong, well.. you have a boatload of lucky Londoners today.

And why would terrorists set off fake bombs? There is no point. If you were of their mindset, why kill 0 when you could kill 50? Why use a loud bang when you could just as easily create a deadly boom? I think they were duds, but, I'll wait and see..

[Sean Reynolds]

160. Ever hear of the IRA?

They may have never bombed to protest war....but they did bomb.

There are far left groups out there willing to do anything to get their point across, just like there are far right groups willing to do anything to get their point across.

[Frederik]

169. IRA isn't what I would call

a "leftist" group, more like nationalistic. Sure there was the Baaden-Meinhof group and Red Brigades, deeply inflitrated by Nato intelligence, but they weren't "anti-war", and more to the point, I don't know of any such group existing in Europe today.

[Sean Reynolds]

170. The IRA is very much leftist!

Remember the official IRA moved to Marxist ideology, which caused splinter groups back during the 1960s. The fact that things have calmed down a bit does not void the fact that leftists in the past have used violence as a means to get their points across.

[silvermachine]

88. Um, I don't think so....

...where you pulled that one out of is a mystery to me.

[leveymg]

57. I can think of other , more likely culprits.

Who would dare risk getting caught and being prosecuted in order to carry out a phony attack? Not 1 - they'd use real bombs. Not 2 - unless they are just plain crazy. 3 is possible - but they're likely being manipulated into this by an agent provocateur, of some kind.

[annabanana]

71. #2 tickles my "probable bone" also

- - BUT I suspect that RW may want to conflate it for terra purposes..

[bassman79]

102. You Got It

People were starting to question the 7/7 official story. Not anymore!

My hunch is what's going on here is these chaps think they're running drugs, but their sacks are actually full of explosives and they were set up by MI5, the "Mastermind".

A couple more of these and Britons will demand their ID cards.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

155. This has to be...

...the stupidest thing I've heard all day, which is saying a lot.

[ananda]

32. bambambam

These terrorists just never quit, do they.. even though you'd think security in London would be tighter and more extensive than ever?

In any other circumstances, this would be an object lesson leading to a good dose of humility and a cause for self-reflection and a new way of thinking.

Time to.. die.. or else get out of the ME. I know what I'd do.

Sue

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

36. Security?

How do you secure a tube line? Unless you want to search every bag, this kind of thing is difficult to prevent.

[navvet]

33. WGN radio in Chicago is reporting

via ABC news the same thing.

Smoke reported in one tube station.

Scotland Yard is unsure but doubts it is terror related.

8am CDT report.

[Felix Mala]

37. But, the brown people are supposed to be fighting and dying

against their will so the white people don't have to.

[ben_packard]

39. London Alert - Possible 3 More Explosions

Police investigating 3 tube station 'incidents' and reportedly 1 bus in Hackney. Smoke/explosion according to some eyewitness reports, though unconfirmed.

Shepherds Bush, Oval and Warren Street Underground stations evacuated, Police at code amber.

BBC News, Link Forthcoming

http://www.sky.com/skynews/home

[still_one]

40. link

[ben_packard]

41. TV only at the moment

[still_one]

42. its on BBC NOW

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4703777.stm

[muriel_volestrangler]

43. dupe

of http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1642604

[ticapnews]

44. CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/21/london.tube/index.html

[HockeyMom]

45. Oh, not again

Those poor people. I feel so sorry for them.

[mainer]

46. Code Amber? Do we have that?

Is that somewhere between yellow and orange? How come the Brits get a code amber and we don't?

[HockeyMom]

47. I think amber for us

is missing kids. Right? Amber Alert?

[berner59]

48. Not to downplay London...

But where was the coverage last week for the 27 children killed in Iraq or even the daily bombings there??? Move along...nothing to see...it's a "war zone"...big deal...

[meganmonkey]

58. Yep - They might get a 5 second blurb on the major news sources

Whereas this'll get play all day long with a thorough rehashing of the bombing 2 weeks ago.

:banghead:

[Reverend Smoothfield]

49. Incidents on the tube (London subway stations evacuated)

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2005/07/21/incidents_on_the_tube.html

[ticapnews]

50. CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/21/london.tube/index.html

[jim3775]

51. BBC: Bomb squad at new address in Leeds about to...

do a controlled detonation.

[jim3775]

52. BBC:"Officers in protection suits at tube station"n/t

[MadisonProgressive]

54. Biological attack!! This could be devastating for London!

[jim3775]

56. I didn't say that, it's just a precaution. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

59. Or, as one commentator said, just a standard precaution

Biological? No evidence for that (and, I've always wondered, wouldn't a non-explosion be better for a biological attack - just walk around, spreading it gradually, or leave it unnoticed if you don't want to catch it yourself?)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

68. From Oval station:

Early indications are that no chem/bio agents were present.

[Oreo]

60. Hope it's not a diversion

Get all the l ondon police to a few areas and do something nasty somewhere else

[halobeam]

61. Steve Pmerantz former chief of counterterrorism was asked....

if it was Al Quiada, then it seems a failed attempt for major damage, he said, "they (AlQuiada) are always working with a goal to kill as many people as possible."

So with that in mind, I wonder, so all these perfectly timed detonations didn't work well? All of them? Doesn't add up to me. The first thing I thought was that this was a scare tactic since these "bombs" didn't do much damage. That doesn't jive with Al Quiada, does it?

[ticapnews]

75. Speculation only...

But if all the bombs were made by the same person and/or the same materials that could explain why they all failed. It would be hard to believe all of them failed otherwise.

[brooklynite]

79. Another troubling notion

That injuries were apparently limited (potentially due to faulty explosive) is good to hear, but the situation is potentially troubling, in that it reinforces the notion that the terrorist movement has evolved from a structured organization under central command to a free-form association of militants willing to attack with whatever they can get their hands on. While those involved may not be as skilled (and therefore not at dangerous), they may also not be as "obvious" to the authorities, and therefore able to attack without scrutiny. Keep in mind that, again, the extensive array of security cameras, which presumably were being more rigorously watched, didn't pick up the perpetrators until the attack occured.

[jim3775]

62. BBC:Police dealing with incident at University College Hospital...

Part of the hospital has been cordoned off and armed police have been sent

[muriel_volestrangler]

63. And moving everyone back a few hundred yards (n/t)

[rainbow4321]

73. 3 armed officers have entered the Emergency Room area

and the hospital remains blocked off to the public...per BBC witness.

[KyndCulture]

64. Link to BBC live coverage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/live/bb/wm/video/now4_bb.asx

[emad]

76. Military Police reported taking up positions in City of London.

Expect a coup imminently?

[demo dutch]

134. self delete

[sabra]

66. (Reuters) London blasts very serious incident--police chief

<<SNIP>>
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LAC001673.htm

London blasts very serious incident--police chief

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - London's police chief Ian Blair described explosions on the city's transport network on Thursday as the result of clearly "a very serious incident".

He told reporters there were four explosions or attempted explosions but they appeared to be smaller than the ones which killed at least 50 people in the city two weeks' ago.

<</SNIP>>

[evermind]

69. BBC Ticker is now quoting police chief: "very serious incident"

on BBC radio 5, now:

Ian Blair, head of the Metropolitan Police: "stay where you are, go about your normal business"

Radio 5 reporter quoting police: "Early indications show no trace of chemical agents" at one station.

[jim3775]

70. BBC:"No traces of chemical agents found" n/t

[gort]

72. I wonder if Brit Hume made a killing on the Futures Market?

eom

[AlGore-08.com]

77. London Underground Stations Evacuated ("minor blasts" reported)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/21/AR2005072100474.html

By Glenn Frankel and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 21, 2005; 9:27 AM

LONDON, July 21 -- Authorities in London are investigating possible ongoing incidents at four Central London subway stations and on a double decker bus.

Little detail was available. BBC TV reported that "minor blasts" had occurred, possibly from detonators.

The stations, Warren Street, Shepherds Bush, Oval and Oxford Circus, have been evacuated.

Smoke was seen coming from one station.

(More... )

[Ian David]

78. Sounds like a test run

On the other hand, in order to create terror, one need not actually create fatalities or even injuries.

[John Doe II]

80. Person whose backsack exploded looked "extremely dismayed"

Victoria Line train passenger Ivan McCracken told Sky News he spoke to an Italian man who witnessed an explosion just after the train arrived at the platform.
"He told me he had seen a man carrying a rucksack which suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open his rucksack. Everyone rushed from the carriage. People evacuated very quickly. There was no panic.
"I didn't see anyone injured but there was shock and fright.
"There was a smell of smoke."
"The man who was holding the rucksack looked extremely dismayed.
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1189833,00.html


Thanks to Seatnineb!

[Cocoa]

81. maybe he forgot the explosives

thus the dismay. :shrug:

[Massacure]

82. Or they were a botched batch so they fizzled insted of going boom.

[meganmonkey]

83. Or it was planted on him?

[rman]

90. then not only he but also several others forget the explosives

odd, isn't it.

[DS1]

86. He'd have looked beaten close to death if I'd been on that train

:nuke:

[jim3775]

87. It could be some sort of training explosives

One of the devices was called a "dummy nail bomb". Maybe someone broke into a bomb squad locker.

[John Doe II]

163. Something wrong

"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."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/21/world/main710566_page2.shtml

Something had gone wrong. Excuse me I didn't want to explode???

What's going on here?
Another threatens to explode and then runs away.
What is this??

[jim3775]

89. Strange report from BBC:Internal memo at UC Hospital asks employees...

to look out for a 6'2" man with "wires protruding from his top". Speculation it that the person involved in the warren st incident escaped into the hospital.

[muriel_volestrangler]

93. Obviously a rogue replicant

Quick - call for a Blade Runner! :-)

[Spider Jerusalem]

91. BBC reporting arrest at Whitehall

handcuffed man being led away by armed police...

[QuettaKid]

96. the cops just asked the BBC reporter to turn his cameras OFF

he was stationed outside of Whitehall

[lockdown]

127. Arrested for possession of brown skin

at a sensitive time and place. That's what it looked like anyway.

[muriel_volestrangler]

174. Police have now said he had nothing to do with the bombs

no link; it was on BBC TV. The same goes for the 2(?) other arrests made today.

[muriel_volestrangler]

92. Live audio on BBC: man arrested outside Ministry of Defence

in Whitehall. Police moving everyone back.

[evermind]

94. (BBC Radio 5: ) Man arrested by armed police in Whitehall

(Whitehall, the main government thouroughfare, has been closed down and opened again already today)

The man was was arrested near the security fence at the end of Downing Street.

Other people were seen running down the street.

"All of a sudden there was a huge flurry of police activity: three or four police cars went shooting up Whitehall"

"A man in dark trousers and dark shirt was forced to the floor ... after two minutes he was stood up" handcuffed and lead away towards Richmond House.

The man didn't appear to be carrying anything (no bag, no belt)

Whitehall was cordoned off again.

According to Radio 5 report by Rita Chakrabati (sp?)

[IndianaGreen]

97. London blasts cause chaos on Tube (BBC 14:30 GMT 15:30 UK )

Panic and fear are the real goals of terrorism. Is this a copycat incident? Or is this an attempt to make Blair appear as someone that is unable to protect his nation from terrorism?

London blasts cause chaos on Tube

A number of Tube stations have been evacuated and lines closed after three 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.

A man was arrested near Downing Street by armed police and led away down Whitehall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4703777.stm

[goforit]

98. I guess Tony's dream come true.......He wanted a war.

Good luck to all Brits.

This is just so sad.

We are most certainly living in Satan's reign, and
we all know who this is.

[rsmith6621]

99. Explosions Shake London Underground Stations 7/21

"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."

http://komotv.com/stories/38097.htm

I wonder if Tony Blair wishes now he would have told ChimpBoy(GWB)that he wasnt interested in participating in the Iraq LIE....

[Maddy McCall]

100. Pox news: Still a device on the bus.

[bassman79]

101. Something is rotten in the city of London...

Sky News reported that 'something was in the air' and that several stations had been closed due to an alert at 11am.

BBC reported that one of the individuals' rucksacks exploded and he looked surprised and dismayed. Who is planting these devices in people's luggage?

“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.”

Sky News reported that Tony Blair was already in a crisis meeting in an underground bunker which overlapped with the alert. Another case of preparing to 'control' the chaos as it unfolded?

Sky News also reports Blair was set to meet with MI5 and MI6 as well as Secret Service later today. This suggests Blair's schedule was planned ahead of time to coincide with these incidents.

[evermind]

103. Police Commissioner Ian Blair spoke again, saying

"there were four attempts" that these were "under control", confirmed one casualty (injury), which was not serious.

Interesting choice of word: "attempts", which seems to suggest that there was an intention to do more damage than occurred, i.e. a failure, not a "hoax".

The report of this was interrupted by Blair whittering on about how the security services know what happened, and praising Australian PM for his support in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bleah.

[Spider Jerusalem]

105. Now John Howard is speaking (why?)

nattering on about "ideology of evil"...etc

[evermind]

109. Perhaps to prove that there's at least one other person who agrees

with him (after his own security services and his own tame think tank have told him that Iraq was a significant factor in motivating the attacks of two weeks ago..)

[janedoe]

113. He's standing in for Rudi Giuliani

Until Rudi cleans up the evidence.
(Have they closed the embassy yet?)

[Moosepoop]

123. Now that you mention it...

Where IS Guiliani?? Was he anywhere near one of the explosion sites this time?

[Spider Jerusalem]

114. Howard again: "hatred of a way of life", "perverted ideology"

more of the same claptrap we keep hearing from Bush & Blair; they all have the same script, it sounds like.

[evermind]

137. After the last lot of bombings, I distinctly remember Netanyahu

saying in an interview that these incidents were happening because the terrorists "couldn't stand to see women exposing their ankles on the streets."

I'm not joking, he really said that.

[Spider Jerusalem]

138. Now THAT'S one of the most cataclysmically idiotic things I've ever heard.

But not surprising, really, coming from Netanyahu.

[evermind]

141. That pretty much replicates my response at the time :) (n/t)

[cheeseit]

148. My God

I didn't belive my estimation of Netanyahu could go any lower...how wrong was I! What an idiot.

[Coastie for Truth]

147. My (turbaned, kirpon carrying, bracelet wearing, Sikh) cardiologist

says the bombers are Paks - Paks hate England for not giving them all of South Asia - and not out and out giving them Kashmir, and not giving them all of the Punjab.

Teji ain't exactly a screaming liberal.

[Spider Jerusalem]

150. Yeah, no love lost between non-Muslim Indians and Pakistanis, generally...

Be nice if they could just settle all their differences on the cricket pitch.

[CJCRANE]

153. Not a convincing argument.

Lots of people don't like the British for lots of different reasons but it took the Iraq War (followed by Abu Ghraib, Fallujah etc) to tip some of them over the edge.

[Matilda]

107. Whatever the intention,

it does show that if they want to put bombs on the tube, they can
do it.

Scary, when security would still be very tight.

[evermind]

112. ... "no evidence of any kind of attack that contains chemicals or anything

else". (Ian Blair again)

Urges everyone to get back on with their business and that everthing is well under control now.

Blair again: "it doesn't change us, it isn't going to change what we do" equating the stalwart behaviour of Londoners with his own intransigence in pursuing disastrous policies.

[evermind]

124. That police commissioner's statement in full: "blasts or attempted blasts"

"We know that we have four explosions, or attempts at explosions, but it’s still pretty unclear as to what’s happened.

"There’s certainly a scene at Oval Underground station, there’s a scene at Warren Street Station, there’s a scene at Shepherd’s Bush which is on the Underground but is actually above ground, and there’s a scene on a Number 26 bus at Hackney, near Columbia Road which I think is near Bethnal Green.

"At the moment 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 and we’re going to have to examine the scene very carefully.

"I’ve got a couple of messages that I really need to give. Firstly obviously the transport system is going to shut down for a short while, while we work out what’s happening.

"So it’s very important that Londoners stay where they are. The second announcement is we will make a second announcement about what the travel implications are, but what we don’t want is lots of people going into railway stations.

"The trains as far as I know are still running. But it’s just stay where you are, go about your normal business, again the plan is there, you’ve seen it happen before, it’s rehearsed, the emergency services are getting control of a very confused scene.

"Clearly this is a very serious incident and what I’m going to do now is I’m going off to Cobra to meet with the Home Secretary and others to see where we go from here."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1702862,00.html

[bassman79]

108. 1984

"In some ways she was far more acute than Winston, and
far less susceptible to Party propaganda. Once when he
had happened in some connection to mention the war
against Eurasia, she startled him by saying casually
that in her opinion the war was not happening. The
rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably
fired by the Government of Oceania itself, 'just to
keep the people frightened.'" - 1984

[Pert_UK]

110. I was in Hammersmith yesterday,& went through Warren Street...

glad it's not today, really.....

Oddly, the footage of Warren St tube seems to be taken from the doorway of my old offices (where I worked for 3 years) on the other side of Euston Road.

[IndianaGreen]

111. Please vote for this thread to be on Greatest Page

It is the original thread on the London incidents.

[merwin]

115. Blasts Hit 3 London Subway Stations, Bus

Blasts Hit 3 London Subway Stations, Bus


By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago

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 lunch-hour explosions caused major shock and disruption in the capital 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 "a very serious incident."

"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 those detonated July 7.

...

-----------------

Yeah, the world is a hell of a lot safer now that King George is here to protect us.

[mogster]

116. Another attack?

So soon?

Hmmmm... this is strange.

On edit: Added bbc link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4703777.stm

[ncteechur]

117. Yeah, I feel safer. Not.

[meganmonkey]

118. Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1642604&mesg_id=1642604

[Maestro]

119. I am fearful

that these explosions, while clearly exposing the fact that the US/Britain led attack in Iraq has done nothing to help us, might be the impetus for more attacks on other countries or stepped up attacks in Iraq.

On another note, I so sorry that London has to go through this. I wish the victims and their families well during these hard times.

[adarling]

120. some people say it is a fake

or copy cat. Not sure, but that is some of the wonderful reporting from NBC or CNN. I get tired of them just sitting there saying whatever they can to make up time since they have noidea what is going on

[janedoe]

125. CNN even announced Bush was going to speak.

They went to Bush... and he was talking about freedom, freedom, freedom, and CAFTA.

It took about 5 "freedoms" before they realized he wasn't talking about the London events, then cut away.

[brooklynite]

146. Pretty good copy...

Even if the explosive force wasn't the same, they got four explosives into the Underground and bus system and detonated them simultaneously.

BBC was speculating that this is "economic" terrorism: smaller explosive intended not to kill, but to disrupt life and economic activity.

[Nihil]

151. Big deal

> Even if the explosive force wasn't the same, they got four explosives
> into the Underground and bus system and detonated them simultaneously.

It is trivial to take a small quantity of explosives down into the
Underground and, thanks to the abundance of cheap watches, not exactly
a technological marvel to detonate them within seconds of each other.

The fact that they were only squib explosions suggests either it was
a copycat faction who haven't even got the connections to get/make any
significant amount of explosive or that it was never intended to cause
damage/harm in the first place.

Either way, this is primarily a publicity-seeking event - one that has
been seized gratefully by both politicians and media embarrassed about
been proven liars again.

[booksenkatz]

121. Woo-hoo! Smaller bombs this time!

See! See! Our dicktayter's war on terra is definitely succeeding! I feel just oh-so safe 'n stuff! Gawd bless Amurka! Let's go shopping!!!

edited to add: I have close family in London, this is no laughing matter, but I think that if I started screaming about this, I would scream for the rest of my life. Just trying to stay sane here.

[rman]

128. "like a firecracker going off"

quote from witness.

previously reported: "only detonators exploded"

now: "small bombs"

one exploded while in the backpack on the persons' back - ripped open the backpack, no injuries. "small bomb" indeed.


my question: whoever did this, what would they hope to achieve by attacking with "small bombs"? are they as incompetent as our leaders?

[evermind]

126. (London) Times: London hit by four bomb attempts, two weeks on

<snip>
Large parts of London were cordoned off after the bombs, including University College Hospital, near Warren Street, where armed police reportedly chased a man - thought to be a bomber - into the building.

Soon afterwards, an internal memo was circulated among hospital staff asking them to be on the alert for a black or Asian man, 6ft 2ins in height, wearing a blue top with a hole in the back with wires protruding from it.

A press spokesman for the hospital confirmed that armed officers were inside. The incident is continuing.

Meanwhile a man was arrested by armed police at the gates of Downing Street, and led away at gunpoint.
<snip>

Full story at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1702712,00.html

[evermind]

129. BBC just reported that Piccadilly and one other underground line were

shut down because the staff refused to drive the trains on those lines, and not by the police. I may be wrong, but I don't expect that story to get reported much..

(Radio 5)

Also "unconfirmed reports" that an individual has been caught in relation to the University College Hospital incident, where one of the culprits apparently was chased by armed police.

[rainbow4321]

130. BBC: 2 suspects arrested (per police source) n/t

[Maddy McCall]

133. Sky News: Undetonated bomb on bus same as used 2 weeks ago.

I'm surfing news channels. Sky news report on Fox says that the bomb on the bus that remains undetonated is the same kind of bus used in the attack two weeks ago.

[daleo]

175. Is that the military grade?

Or the non military grade homemade bombs? Or perhaps the perfume based bomb? The bombs with timers, or without timers?

Or do they mean it is the same kind of bus?

[demo dutch]

135. Well, this will replace the MSM frenzy about Roberts and focuses

it back to the report which declared that they're (and we) are not safer since the war in Iraq, and why we went to war in the first place, Rove etc.

[brooklynite]

144. Police Activity now reported outside Old Bailey (Criminal Court)

per BBC video feed

[moodforaday]

145. Or did someone just need to buy sterling and stocks on the cheap?

BBC's first article I saw about this today mentions that GBP dropped immediately after the news got out, and so did the stock market:

1320: The pound sterling falls against other currencies as word of the incidents hits the markets. The index of leading shares on London's stock exchange also falls.
(snip)
1238: Ambulance services are called to the Oval Underground station on the Northern Line. The station is evacuated.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4703853.stm

[Rhiannon12866]

149. Guardian: Eyewitness Reports: 'There was mass panic'

Thursday July 21, 2005

Victoria Line passenger Ivan McCracken:
"I was in a middle carriage and the train was not far short of Warren Street station when suddenly the door between my carriage and the next one burst open and dozens of people started rushing through. Some were falling, there was mass panic.
"It was difficult to get the story from any of them what had happened but when I got to ground level there was an Italian young man comforting an Italian girl who told me he had seen what had happened.

"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. The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1533421,00.html

[maddezmom]

154. updated link

Blasts hit London again, 2 weeks after bombings By Richard Meares and Gerard Wynn
39 minutes ago



LONDON (Reuters) - Four small coordinated explosions hit London's transport network on Thursday, but caused no fatalities, exactly 2 weeks after bombers killed more than 50 people on underground trains and a bus in the capital.


Part of the underground train network was shut, but police reassured the public that the emergency was not as serious as 2 weeks ago, and Prime Minister Tony Blair called for calm.

London police chief Ian Blair told reporters: "We know that we've had four explosions or attempts at explosions. It is still pretty unclear what's happened ... The bombs appear to be smaller than the last occasion."

He said some devices appeared not to have gone off properly and only one person was injured, adding that he hoped London would now "get moving" again.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050721/ts_nm/security_britain_train_dc_15

[evermind]

156. London police spokesman at press conference confirms "attempts"

"have been made to set off explosive devices".

"An enormous amount of speculation is running at the moment .. but at the end of this process we want to have trials, and what is said at these press conferences is often played back at trials" (hence they're not going to say everything they know (or think) about the incidents.

The incidents "may represent a significant breakthrough" (in terms of forensic analyses of the scenes).

"No community should be smeared with responsibility for these matters".

In response to questions:

"the intention must have been to kill ... the intention of the terrorist has not been fulfilled."

"From what I understand, some of the devices remain unexploded" but it will take a while to understand it fully.

"It's not clear yet how many people may have taken part in this".

Arrests outside Downing Street, and in University College Hospital "appear to be entirely unconnected events".

"It's too early" to assert a direct link to Al Qaeda. "We need to know a bit more before we can link it".

"London Ambulance service tell us they took no casualties from these scenes". A casualty reported at one hospital "may have been self-reported" and could be either connected or not.

Additionally, Mark Urban (BBC security correspondent) says he has been told (by anonymous intelligence sources?) that the rucksacks used in today's incident were of "almost identical construction" to the ones used two weeks ago, and that the intention was to cause much larger explosions than occurred.

[Name removed]

157. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

158. Explain. n/t

[brooklynite]

159. Our RW friends get to the real heart of the matter...

Is there a pattern with the names of the places bombed in London?

Here are the stations or areas bombed:

Sheperd's Bush Hammersmith
Oval
Warren Street
Hackney Road
Bush? Oval Office? "W" as in Warren? Hackney as in trite?

Could the Islamofascists be sending a message?

Oh my word. Look at the map. Ironic that you connect this to DC. Look at where "Oval" is in relation to the other places. It looks as if it's a map of DC looking west, with Oval as the White House, and the other three as the Capitol, Washinton Monument, and finally the Lincoln Memorial. Just an idea, but a very shocking coincidence.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1447651/posts

[demo dutch]

161. I thought of that! Wonder if the MSM will catch on!

[volitionx]

164. Just wait until the U.K. gets its very OWN Patriot Act!

Naturally, Blair will use this event to "justify" U.K. involvement in the War on Terror. It's obvious that violence causes violence, that war IS terrorism, and that the way to end Middle Eastern terrorism is for the U.S. (and the West in general) to WITHDRAW from the Middle East and to help create a sovereign Palestinian state.

Of course, the problem is U.S. government POLICY in the Middle East, not that "terrorists hate our freedom".

Then again, this war is not meant to end. It's meant to be PERMANENT. Therefore, Bushco will NEVER actually TRY to win the War on Terror. They need the war, they love the war, they will ensure that it goes on forever, after they steal the next presidential election, and beyond.

If they actually wanted to WIN in Iraq, they'd have provided armor for the troops, they'd have prevented war profiteers from stealing millions that could be actually used for the war effort, etc.

If they actually wanted to "liberate" Iraq, they wouldn't have built 14 permanent bases there. The neo-cons have NO intention of leaving Iraq.

If they cared about our domestic security, they'd fund port security and wouldn't have cut funding to first responders. They even called the FBI and CIA off the trail of some of the 9/11 hijackers. They don't want to WIN the war, they want to perpetuate the war. And anyway, there's no way to "win" the war unless the U.S. changes its foreign policy, which they absolutely won't do.

So....either we get rid of these neo-cons and foster a powerful taboo against them and their minions being in positions of power, or we'll be "fighting" this bogus War On Terror for THE REST OF OUR LIVES. It's a Global Corporate Empire they're building, and Blair is along for the ride. 9/11 and the fear it engenders is being used to fuel public support, and fighting terrorism is then used as the pretext for their new Empire.

"In accordance with the principles of double-think it does not matter if the war is not real. For when it is, victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, but it is meant to be continuous."--George Orwell, 1984

[Ksec]

167. Meanwhile back in Iraq

theyre sacrificing lives and spending billions while the terrorists attack at home.

How soon before the people wake up?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

177. being a Floridian

i don't have much faith that they ever will wake up.

[darkism]

172. Roberts nomination didn't take the heat off Rove

So they sent these clowns onto the tube with only detonators and no explosives.

[cliss]

176. I have this feeling......

that it's every man for him/herself. It's going to be the Law of the Jungle, from here on out.

We should all look back on these past 60 years as relatively peaceful. At least, for the US. We haven't had to endure as much as the rest of the world......that's about to change.

It's time to say farewell.