A series of bomb attacks on London's transport
network has killed more than 30 people and injured about 350 others
There were three explosions on the Underground - which police
said left 33 dead - and one on a double-decker bus in which an
unknown number died
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has returned to London from
the G8 summit, has described the attack as "barbaric"
An Islamist website has posted a statement - purportedly from
al-Qaeda - claiming it was behind the attacks
The Queen said she was "deeply shocked" and sent her
sympathy to those affected and the Union Jack was flying at half
mast over Buckingham Palace
US President George Bush told reporters at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles
that "the war on terror goes on"
All London Underground services have been suspended until at least
Friday
Bus services have resumed in central London (Zone One) with diversions
in affected areas
Most mainline train stations are open
Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner
Brian Paddick confirmed 33 people had died in the blasts on the
Underground
He said there were 21 confirmed fatalities following the blast
at 0856 BST in a tunnel between King's Cross and Russell Square
There were seven confirmed deaths after a blast at 0851 BST 100
yards into a tunnel from Liverpool Street station
The train was either a Central Line or Circle Line train
And at 0917 BST an explosion on a train coming into Edgware Road
underground station blew a hole through a wall onto another train
in an adjoining platform
Three trains were thought to be involved and there were five confirmed
deaths so far, Mr Paddick said
He said it was not yet known how many died in the bus blast at
0947 at the junction of Upper Woburn Place and Tavistock Square
London Ambulance Service said it had treated
45 patients with serious or critical injuries including burns,
amputations, chest and blast injuries and fractured limbs
Some 300 more people were treated for minor injuries including
lacerations and smoke inhalation, LAS assistant chief officer
Russell Smith added
In other developments
1 - The
officer in charge of policing the G8 summit said many of the 1,500
Metropolitan Police officers in Scotland would be urgently redeployed
to London
2 - The
police set up a casualty bureau number on 0870 1566344
3 - New
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said celebrations to mark the homecoming
from Singapore of the successful London Olympic bid team have
been cancelled
4 - Pope
Benedict said the blasts were "barbaric acts against humanity"
in a message to the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac
Murphy O'Connor
5 - London
Mayor Ken Livingstone, speaking from Singapore before flying back
to the UK, said Londoners would not be divided by a "cowardly
attack"
6 - 54
state schools were closed in Westminster
7 - Mobile
phone services across London were jammed with all major networks
reporting problems as people tried to contact relatives and friends.
A spokeswoman for Vodafone said the emergency services were being
given priority
Mr Paddick confirmed police were looking into whether the bus
blast was the work of a suicide bomber
But, he added: "It could as easily be an explosive device
left on the bus as the work of a suicide bomber. We are not able
to determine which it was yet"
He said no warning had been given before the blasts and that no-one
had yet claimed to be behind them
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said a previously unknown
group calling itself the Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaeda
of Jihad Organisation in Europe had claimed to be behind the attacks
in a statement posted on an Islamist website
The group's statement said the attacks were revenge for the "massacres"
Britain was committing in Iraq and Afghanistan and that the country
was now "burning with fear and panic", he added
Early reports had suggested a power surge could be to blame for
explosions on the Underground but this was later discounted
Describing the bus blast in Tavistock Square,
witness Belinda Seabrook said she saw an explosion rip through
the vehicle
"I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang,
I turned round and half the double-decker bus was in the air,"
she said
She said the bus had been travelling from Euston to Russell Square
and was "packed" with people turned away from Tube stops
"It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half
a bus flying through the air." she said
One caller to BBC Five Live said his friend had seen "the
bus ripped open like a can of sardines"
Friday 8th July 2005
London bombs killed
"at least 50"
More than 50 people died in the London bomb attacks, the head
of the Metropolitan Police has said
Forty-nine people are confirmed dead, but Sir Ian Blair said efforts
to recover bodies from the wreckage of the Russell Square Tube
train continued
He also said that 13 people died in the bus blast in Tavistock
Square alone
Over 700 had also been injured in the four blasts
Monday 11th July 2005
Blair vows to hunt
down bombers
Tony Blair has promised one of the most "vigorous and intensive"
police manhunts the UK has seen to catch those responsible for
the London bombings
"We will pursue those responsible wherever they are and we
will not rest until they are identified, and as far as possible,
brought to justice"
He told MPs that Londoners' "stoicism", since the tube
and bus bombs which claimed 52 lives, was an inspiration
The Prime Minister said Britons were "determined... not to
be defeated"