Two Arrested in London Subway, Bus Blasts

[Nomad]

Two Arrested in London Subway, Bus Blasts





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Jul 22, 1:12 AM (ET)

By DANICA KIRKA



(AP) Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair gives a press conference at 10 Downing Street in London...

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LONDON (AP) - Police in London have arrested two men in connection with four attacks on three subway trains and a double-decker bus on Thursday, a scene hauntingly similar to deadly explosions set off by four suicide bombers exactly two weeks before. It was an inescapable message that life in London now means living with the threat of terror.

The explosive devices were either faulty or too small to cause bloodshed, and the only reported injury turned out to be an asthma attack. But the lunch-hour blasts rattled a capital already on edge after the July 7 explosions, which killed 52 people and four suicide bombers.

Police said one man was detained near Downing Street, site of the prime minister's residence; the other was picked up near Tottenham Court Road, close to the Warren Street subway station where one attack took place.

"We can't minimize incidents such as this," Prime Minister Tony Blair said. "They're done to scare people, to frighten them and make them worried."



They did that.

Authorities said it was too early to determine whether the attacks were carried out by the same organization as the July 7 blasts - or whether they were linked to al-Qaida.

But NBC News reported that British authorities told their U.S. counterparts that backpacks and explosives used Thursday were identical to those in the July 7 attacks. And the British Broadcasting Corp. reported "speculation" that the devices were so similar they may even have been part of the same batch.

"Clearly, the intention must have been to kill," Police Commissioner Ian Blair told reporters. "You don't do this with any other intention. And I think the important point is that the intention of the terrorists has not been fulfilled."

Londoners fled the three Underground stations at midday, some sprinting barefoot after leaving their shoes behind in the scramble.



(AP) Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair gives a press conference at 10 Downing Street in London...

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Witnesses on the Underground heard a pop like a bursting champagne cork. Others smelled an odor like burning rubber. At least one reported a minor explosion in a man's backpack, and then the man muttering that something had gone wrong.

Bus passengers reported a bang on the upper level, where windows were blown out. But some witnesses said the blast wasn't loud. Witnesses first saw the police running up the road, followed soon after by news cameramen lugging tripods.

The prime minister appealed for calm, and a Buckingham Palace garden party for 8,000 people, hosted by Queen Elizabeth II, went ahead.

But even among the famously stoic British, nerves were on edge.

"When I got home, my hands were shaking," said 24-year-old Lisa Chilley, who uses the targeted Oval station. "I'm panicking like hell. It's just too close to home."



(AP) Police and a sniffer-dog are seen around the Hammersmith and City Underground Station at Shepherd's...

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Firefighters and police with bomb-sniffing dogs sealed off city blocks and evacuated rows of restaurants, pubs and offices.

Britain's Press Association news agency reported detectives were working on the belief that the bombs were not properly primed - which could help explain the limited damage.

Although authorities did not say how many devices exploded, Paul Beaver, an independent defense expert, said an official told him it appeared that two bombs detonated and two others did not. Detonators are often faulty on commercial and military explosives, he said.

"These attacks don't look like they were a hallmark of any one group," Beaver told The Associated Press. "They don't fit into any clear patterns that we know of except they were timed."

One of the greatest police fears is that an audacious attack will inspire similar attacks, said Rachel Bronson, director of Mideast Studies at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. "It's all done to sow terror, and there's nothing more terrifying than bombs followed by bombs," she said.



(AP) Armed police outside the Hammersmith and City Underground Station at Shepherd's Bush in London,...

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Alarmingly, it appears the group was able to attack in the midst of an intense investigation of the previous bus and train bombings. Often such follow-up attacks are uncovered and thwarted, Bronson said.

"What is very worrisome, London intelligence, which is among the best in the world, was not only surprised two weeks ago, but they're surprised by this," she said.

Emergency teams were sent to the three Underground stations after the attacks, and the police commissioner said forensic evidence collected could provide a "significant break."

In one closely watched development, an armed police unit entered University College hospital shortly after the blasts. Sky News TV reported that police were searching for a man with a blue shirt with wires protruding from his pocket. Officers asked employees to look for a black or South Asian man about 6-foot-2.

By late Thursday, the hospital said police had searched the facility but that three small rooms in an unoccupied part of the complex were cordoned off.

The attacks paralleled the July 7 blasts, which involved explosions at three Underground stations simultaneously starting at 8:50 a.m., followed about an hour later by a bomb going off on a bus. Those bombings took place in the center of London.

Thursday's attacks were more spread out and occurred during the lunch hour - beginning at about 12:38 p.m.

The bombs, which targeted trains near the Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush stations, did not shut down the subway system, only three of its lines. The bus was hit while on Hackney Road in east London.

Near the bus explosion, firefighters and police, some with bomb-sniffing dogs, sealed off a city block of restaurants, shops and apartments. Residents peered through the curtains of upper floor windows, speaking on cell phones.

With fear spreading to other capitals, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said authorities would begin conducting random searches of packages and backpacks carried by people entering the subway.

But Transport for London, which runs the British capital's bus and transport network, rejected such measures. Spokesman Steve Taylor said it would be impractical to check bags or install airport-style metal detectors and X-ray machines. London buses and subways carry 9 million passengers a day.

"We are running a massive transport infrastructure," he told the AP. "Would people accept an additional 30 to 40 minutes on their journey every morning and afternoon? It would bring the network to a standstill."

Dozens of people living near the attacks were unable to return home by late Thursday evening, and police set up reception areas to help them.

Among those affected was Eileen Moreland, 91, who has lived since 1950 in an apartment complex above Warren Street station.

"I'm feeling a bit shaky because I haven't been very well and I find it difficult to walk," she said.

For some commuters, the new closures would hardly matter. Fethi Brandou, 36-year-old gardener, said he'd be reluctant to take the Underground again- no matter what.

"I wouldn't take the Tube now," he said. "I'll buy a bicycle or walk."

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Associated Press writers Thin Lei Win, Kate Bouey, Brian Murphy, Beth Gardiner, Jason Keyser, Jill Lawless, Sarah Blaskovich and Michael McDonough in London contributed to this report.

[gmc]

Just shot someone

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archiv ... ondon.html

[gabrell]

It seems there have been so many critics of how america has reacted to terrorism in terms of how prisoners were treated, loss of civil liberties etc... It seems that now the shoe is on the other foot. Killing this guy just because he didnt stop when police asked him to.

It has been said he was a suspect. If so, why did they let him get to a public place to decide to take him out???

[theia]

gabrell wrote: It seems there have been so many critics of how america has reacted to terrorism in terms of how prisoners were treated, loss of civil liberties etc... It seems that now the shoe is on the other foot. Killing this guy just because he didnt stop when police asked him to.

It has been said he was a suspect. If so, why did they let him get to a public place to decide to take him out???


I don't know, gabrell, do you?

What I do know is that I wouldn't want to swap places with the police and other services who are trying their best to sort out this whole tragic mess.

So lets just stick to our armchairs and criticise.

[kmhowe72]

I thought those brits don't use guns??

[lady cop]

kmhowe72 wrote: I thought those brits don't use guns??some agencies in England are armed. on the tube, at buckingham palace, etc. and the Brits aren't going to take it laying down, they survived the blitz and the IRA. ...in this case BBC is reporting that 5 plain-clothes officers put the guy down and gave him 5 shots to the head. sounds like SAS to me. he refused a direct order, he ran. sorry, but i am allowed to use my own judgement and shoot his ass too if i think innocent lives are endangered...we shall see what the authorities say about this guy. in the current climate in England, i don't blame the authorities one bit.

[abbey]

kmhowe72 wrote: I thought those brits don't use guns??:-2

No of course us Brits dont use guns,did you imagine our armed police chase a suspected suicide bomber with truncheons

shouting "stop in the name of the law"??

[CARLA]

Hindsight is 20/20 the man wouldn't stop when asked, he had a heavy coat on in a heat wave.. They had no other choice, sometimes police work isn't easy, that is why they are trained, and trained again, and again for such situations.

LC will tell you all about the Brits and their non-gun carrying force. No normally they don't carry weapons. Well the past two weeks in London have put a new wrinkle to that plan. Guess what now they are carrying GUNS.. go figure... If your to defend the public against bomb carrying terroist you better have some sort of weapon, and it better be big and powerful..

BRAVO TO THE BRITISH POLICE...I LIKE THE WAY THEY HAVE HANDLED THINGS..POLICE ALL OVER THE WORLD GET A BAD WRAP WHEN THING LIKE THIS HAPPEN.. TO PROTECT AND SERVE, AND I'M DAMN GLAD THEIR OUT THERE. :-4

[abbey]

News has been released that the shot man had no links to the recent bombings.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,3 ... 65,00.html

[CARLA]

That is sad, he had a choice he was asked to stop and chose not to.:-1 I also see the Police had no other choice but to shot..

[Bothwell]

One thing I am sure of is that with 7 shots to the head and one to the shoulder the cop in question lost it slightly. 2 is generally enough, it's not meant as a criticism of a difficult situation but having met a few firearms officers in my time they pride them selves on their coolness under pressure, I have a friend in the Met (not an active FO) who I was talking to last night and they absolutely know the media backlash that will be meted out by the left and as he said to me "It's the eight shots that make it hard to defend".

BTW there will be no change in the policy of firearms officers, there never has.