Attacked Again.

[Sally]

Three underground stations have been evacuated and smoke seen, no further news as yet.

[LetterB]

I am just seeing this on the news in the States... they are saying something about an incident on a bus and a report of gunshots heard. So 3 stations and a bus. Here they are saying copycat... dang it people need to quit this

[Sally]

There were four bombs today, however they were not detinated properly so there are no casualties, however it has been confirmed the intent was to kill as the rucksacks and bombs used are identical to the ones used two weeks ago. Luckily for us it went wrong and two of the bombers have been caught so hopefully there will be more evidence and this terror stopped. The police are reluctant to confirm they are part of the same cell that bombed us a fortnight ago.
Once again everyone was calm and the emergency services were there right away, I fear this is only the beginning for London, we have no way of protecting our buses and trains but people will still use them, they cannot and will not scare us. This is london they are dealing with, they are failing because the more they try to terror us the more we pull together, we have such a diverse range of cultures and religions that live in harmony and they only succeed to pull us together and make us stronger no to divide us as their wish.

London survived the plague, it survived the big fire, it survived the blitz's of WW11 and it has survived IRA attacks, we can survive this.

[chaitanya]

Police hunt bombers who struck London again
By Philippe Naughton, Times Online
# Second bomb attack in two weeks
# Explosions after four bomb attempts
# Three on Tube lines, one on bus
# One injury


Scotland Yard mounted a massive manhunt tonight after bombers set off four near-simultaneous explosions on the Underground and a London bus today, two weeks to the day after the suicide bombings of July 7.

Police said only one person was wounded in the bomb blasts or attempted blasts at Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush Tube stations, and on the top deck of a bus passing through Hackney.

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said the explosions were "pretty close to simultaneous", although not all the devices had gone off properly and investigators might be able to recover valuable forensic evidence. He said that the devices used were smaller than the July 7 attacks - in which suicide bombers killed more than 50 people -and there was no sign of any chemical or biological attack.

"The situation is now coming fully under control," said Sir Ian, who added that while there was a certain "resonance" in a comparison between the two attacks, it was still too early to say that the same group may have been responsible.

Two weeks ago, four suicide bombers wreaked havoc in the London rush hour, also targeting three Tube trains and a bus in co-ordinated blasts. Three of the bombers were Muslims of Pakistani origin from Leeds and the fourth was a Jamaican-born Muslim convert from Aylesbury.

Streets around the three Tube stations were cordoned off after today's attacks, as was University College Hospital, near Warren Street, where armed police reportedly chased a man into the building. Police left the building around 4pm, apparently without making an arrest.

Hours after the blast on the No 26 bus in Hackney Road, East London, a police cordon was keeping locals and a crowd of reporters 400 yards from the scene.

The driver of the bus, Mark Maybank, 38, told his bosses that he immediately pulled over and shouted for everyone to get off the bus when he heard a small explosion and saw smoke. He rushed to the top deck of his vehicle and saw an abandoned rucksack - which police were still examining with caution tonight.

Tony Blair broke off from a meeting with his Australian counterpart, John Howard, to be briefed on the incidents. After chairing a meeting of Cobra, the Cabinet emergency committee, Mr Blair said that he would be resuming his normal schedule - even though a man with a knapsack was arrested at the gates of Downing Street and led away at gunpoint in an incident later described as unconnected with the bombings.

"We know why these things are done, they're done to scare people and to frighten them, to make them anxious and worried," Mr Blair told a press conference. "The police have done their very best and the security services too in this situation and I think we've just got to react calmly."

Sir Ian appealed to Londoners to stay off the transport system, but to go about their normal business. Five Tube lines - the Victoria, Northern, Hammersmith and City, Bakerloo and Piccadilly - were suspended or partly suspended, although shuttle services were organised.

The Scotland Yard chief said he would not give any details of the course of the investigation, which was evolving rapidly. He confirmed that a manhunt was under way, although he said it was not yet clear how many people might have been involved in the attacks.

As commuters faced a difficult journey home, it emerged that St Albans station had been closed due to a security alert, severely disrupting train services to the Midlands.

Londoners were also urged to avoid making long mobile telephone calls, and to use text messages instead if possible, to avoid overloading mobile networks.

Experts were divided on who might have been responsible. Robert Ayers, a security analyst at Chatham House in London, said that that he believed that the same group was behind both attacks.

"All along I've been saying that you had four guys that died [in the July 7 bombings], but the infrastructure that trained them, equipped them, funded them, pointed them at the right target - the infrastructure’s still in place, still here," he told the Reuters news agency.

He pointed out that police had recovered unused explosives from various sites, including a hire car abandoned by bombers at Luton. Police carried out ten controlled explosions on the hire car in Luton station car park before they placed it on a low-loader and took it away.

"One speculation I’ve had all along is that they left those explosives in the car for another group to pick up and carry out a second attack, but when they got there the car had already been taken over by the police, so they have had to cobble something together fairly quickly," he said.

Others however said that the bombs of two weeks ago might have inspired others to copy. "It looks like it may be people messing around, copycat-type stuff," said Dr Shane Brighton, a terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute. "The absence of any clear evidence of substantial blasts means that this is on the face of it at the moment not a follow-up attack of the same proportion."

Dr Brighton added: "It may be an attempt by people to cause panic, maybe people with similar ideas or ideological sympathy with the people that did the recent bombings...The nature of the incidents doesn’t appear to be anything like as serious."

Like July 7, three Tube stations and a bus appeared to be involved, and as on July 7 the targets appeared to describe a rough cross-shape on the map of London, with Warren St in the north, Oval in the south, Hackney in the east and Shepherd's Bush in the west.

Victoria Line passenger Ivan McCracken claimed a traveller’s rucksack had exploded on the Tube as it approached Warren Street station, which is just a few hundred yards from King's Cross station.

He told Sky News: "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."

Mr McCracken said he smelled smoke but did not see any injured passengers.

Other reports suggested that gunshots were fired as a man ran away from the scene at Warren Street. A witness spoke of hearing a noise like champagne corks popping, which one analyst said could be detonators going off.

Meanwhile at Oval station a woman passenger reported seeing a man with a rucksack struggling with three male passengers, next to a woman and crying baby. She said: "The carriage opened and the man ran away, but they couldn’t catch up with him. As far as I’m aware that person has got away, but I was just trying to find a way out of the carriage and the station."

http://galahad.altervista.org/immagini/ttt1.jpg

[DizzymissLizzy909]

Prayers to all out in that part of the world, hope you can make it through this fear okay. :sad1:

[twovirgins]

They will never Win !!!!

[beatlelover45223]

They will never Win !!!!

you said it Erik

[Sally]

It has been confirmed that the bombs were exactly the same as last time but bomb maker got the mix wrong which has left a goldmine of evidence for the police to work on and try and locate and smash the cell involved.

However they have warned that there will probably be more attempts before they are caught and the bombs might not fail next time. nice.

[Sally]

On the radio it has been said that there have been reports in the US press that people were running, screaming and there was mass panic yesterday here in London and this has made London people angry as there was no such thing, everyone was calm and collected.Just what i heard on the radio this morning.

[pattiboyd's slave]

Thank you Sally for keeping us informed of the situation there. Peace to all in London Town.

[Siobhan]

Yep, another fun day over here :rolleyes:

Thankfully the bomb makers made some sort of mistake and the bombs didn't go off properly or else there could have been carnage all over again. The thing that got me the most was that one of the bombers was standing next to a woman with a baby when he tried to detonate his bomb. These people are just evil.

My husband was supposed to get the tube to Charing Cross yesterday for a hospital appointment at 12.50, 20 minutes after it all went off. Luckily he decided not to go at the last minute, otherwise he would have been stuck up ther all day. My poor sister was stuck in the middle of it all though. She had to walk for miles all the way to Paddington Station because she couldn't get the underground.

Let's hope they catch them before they can strike again.

[chaitanya]

Yep, another fun day over here :rolleyes:

The thing that got me the most was that one of the bombers was standing next to a woman with a baby when he tried to detonate his bomb. These people are just evil.




Apologize me but I have to say.....f****** bastards !!!

[chaitanya]

A suspected suicide bomber was shot five times by police at a London Underground station this morning after attempting to board a packed Tube train, witnesses reported...(Times online)

Amen brothers !

[Rellevart]

On the radio it has been said that there have been reports in the US press that people were running, screaming and there was mass panic yesterday here in London and this has made London people angry as there was no such thing, everyone was calm and collected.Just what i heard on the radio this morning.

Hmmm...I heard about it on the news last night and they didn't say anything about panic, in fact they showed footage of a bunch of people standing around waiting patiently for the Tube to open up. Not to say that there aren't more sensational networks than the one I was watching, but not all US news sources reported it like that.

[Sally]

Hmmm...I heard about it on the news last night and they didn't say anything about panic, in fact they showed footage of a bunch of people standing around waiting patiently for the Tube to open up. Not to say that there aren't more sensational networks than the one I was watching, but not all US news sources reported it like that.

media is media eh? I am glad it didn't show us like that though x

[Sally]

A suspected suicide bomber was shot five times by police at a London Underground station this morning after attempting to board a packed Tube train, witnesses reported...(Times online)

Amen brothers !

They actually pinned him down before shooting which is abit worrying, the must have had good reason, though why would you shoot at a bomb? I hope it wasn't just rash itchy figures that would be terrible and wouldn't help at all.

[Sally]

My partner got stopped searched, his name checked and his rucksack emptied in town today, I said it was because he had a rucksack but he said no he was singled out cos lots went through with rucksacks, on saying that is his half guatamalan and dark and skinny so thats maybe why.

[Richard Starkey]

As long as everyone sticks together, the terrorists are losing. Once we become divided, though, and start saying that "We should draw out of the war, becuase they won't hurt us if we don't hurt them!" That crap gets be so annoyed. Can anyone tell me what war we were fighting during 9/11? None.

[Sally]

As long as everyone sticks together, the terrorists are losing. Once we become divided, though, and start saying that "We should draw out of the war, becuase they won't hurt us if we don't hurt them!" That crap gets be so annoyed. Can anyone tell me what war we were fighting during 9/11? None.

You are right but Iraq has just made it whole lot worse, there was no reason to go in because it had no connection with 11th September at the time, we have killed 100 of thousands of them and tortured them too, something to be ashamed of but not for discussion now.

I am not saying I am on the terrorists side, far far from it, they are attacking my city, but who funded them, and who trained them and armed them? The West.

[Sally]

They actually pinned him down before shooting which is abit worrying, the must have had good reason, though why would you shoot at a bomb? I hope it wasn't just rash itchy figures that would be terrible and wouldn't help at all.

Jesus the man they pinned down and shot was the wrong one, fair enough if they shot him running away after being warned but he was pinned down and shot five times, why couldn't they just shoot him in the leg, he wasn't armed or strapped with bombs. Bloody digusting, too trigger happy.

The poor poor man.

Apparently the man was from South America and didn't know what was happening, was new here, and started to panic and run, my partner is half Guatamalan and if he started to panic when the police stopped him would they have pumped five bullets into him too.

[mccartneymaniac]

to those who promote hate and death it is not the way and only demeans your message if you are truly a person of faith you would never use violence to spread your message maybe sometime those who sit by will say enough faith regardless of belief is about love of god and each othe they have not done either. too bad especially for all the innocent ones who pay the price.

[Siobhan]

Jesus the man they pinned down and shot was the wrong one, fair enough if they shot him running away after being warned but he was pinned down and shot five times, why couldn't they just shoot him in the leg, he wasn't armed or strapped with bombs. Bloody digusting, too trigger happy.

The poor poor man.



It is an awful tragedy what has happened to this poor man. I can't really blame the police though. They are in a no win situation. From what I have heard they approached him after he left ahouse which was under survaillance and he ran, they called warnings to him but he carried on running into the station and onto the busy train. He was on the ground but wasn't pinned down, so if he did have a bomb he was still in a position to detonate it. The police in these situations are always told to aim for the head. If they believe he is carrying a bomb it is too dangerous to aim for the body, and shooting him in the legs would mean he was still able to detonate a bomb. I would question the need to shoot him five times though.

I do feel terribly for the man and his family. It's very sad that he was caught up in all of this.

[twovirgins]

not smart to run away from cops especially when they are looking for bombers

but this is a good exapmple of letting the terrorists win

If we become more violent and suspicious and scared thats exactly what the terrorists want

[chiliace]

It is an awful tragedy what has happened to this poor man. I can't really blame the police though. They are in a no win situation. From what I have heard they approached him after he left ahouse which was under survaillance and he ran, they called warnings to him but he carried on running into the station and onto the busy train. He was on the ground but wasn't pinned down, so if he did have a bomb he was still in a position to detonate it. The police in these situations are always told to aim for the head. If they believe he is carrying a bomb it is too dangerous to aim for the body, and shooting him in the legs would mean he was still able to detonate a bomb. I would question the need to shoot him five times though.

I do feel terribly for the man and his family. It's very sad that he was caught up in all of this.
Siobhan, where did you get the info on the police always being told to aim for the head? Situations such as this one have many aspects, and one would be that the suspect threatened the police. I wonder if he did. All aspects of the shooting are not being revealed, and one official said that the details would probably not be known until a lawsuit is filied. I agree with your overall sentiments, though. It is a sad situation. Peace.

[Sally]

Still bothers me that eye witness' said he was pinned down and then shot, I could understand it if he was strapped with bombs but they didn't even check that first, and surely a shot in the leg or something would be ok.Scary when it get like thats here, maybe I am just not used to guns cos we don't have them here usually.

[jtal909]

If he came out of a house that was being watched and ran from the police, I would imagine he is somehow involved.

[Siobhan]

Siobhan, where did you get the info on the police always being told to aim for the head?

Police officials have mentioned it a few times on the news. I saw Andy McNabb talking about it yeterday too. It is the only way they can disarm a potential suicide bomber without the risk of hitting the bomb themselves or allowing the bomber to detonate. As it turns out though this poor man didn't have a bomb.

The police are pretty certain he wasn't involved in any way. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[DizzymissLizzy909]

Jesus the man they pinned down and shot was the wrong one, fair enough if they shot him running away after being warned but he was pinned down and shot five times, why couldn't they just shoot him in the leg, he wasn't armed or strapped with bombs. Bloody digusting, too trigger happy.

The poor poor man.

Apparently the man was from South America and didn't know what was happening, was new here, and started to panic and run, my partner is half Guatamalan and if he started to panic when the police stopped him would they have pumped five bullets into him too.

When I first heard that he was shot, they were saying on the news that the police were so sure he was connected somehow to the bombing. Is there any word on why they thought this man was a terrorist? Just because he was running? :thinker:

[BrazilianFlag]

When I first heard that he was shot, they were saying on the news that the police were so sure he was connected somehow to the bombing. Is there any word on why they thought this man was a terrorist? Just because he was running? :thinker:

He ran and he was wearing a long coat in the height of summer - suspect behaviour, methinks. According to the news, he was Brazilian and a legal alien in London - supposedly he knew English very well, living in London for five years, so I don't realy believe he did not understand the orders. But who can tell?

The people over here are way shocked, because the British police has a very high reputation and to have a fellow countryman killed like this is very weird. I do agree it was a no-win situation, but it does not make it any easier or less painful to all parts!

[Sally]

He ran and he was wearing a long coat in the height of summer - suspect behaviour, methinks. According to the news, he was Brazilian and a legal alien in London - supposedly he knew English very well, living in London for five years, so I don't realy believe he did not understand the orders. But who can tell?

The people over here are way shocked, because the British police has a very high reputation and to have a fellow countryman killed like this is very weird. I do agree it was a no-win situation, but it does not make it any easier or less painful to all parts!

It has been confirmed that no warning was given to him and the police were in plain clothes, now if I was chased by a gang of men with guns, not saying anything and not wearing a uniform I would bloody run too, especially with all the weird stuff going on here right now.
Also it is not uncommon for people from hot countries to wear heavy clothing even if its our summer and they feel the cold, my mother in law has 4 Brazilians lodging with her at the moment and they are all still wearing jackets.

A report said that they found an address in one of the rucksacks of a failed bomber and it was the address of the Brazlian shot, they staked the house out, he came out, dark looking, carrying a bag, followed him and hey presto, 5 bullets. I mean it is just crazy, it could have just been a shared house, and why the bloody hell didn't they just stop him earlier in the day?

[beatlelover45223]

Still bothers me that eye witness' said he was pinned down and then shot, I could understand it if he was strapped with bombs but they didn't even check that first, and surely a shot in the leg or something would be ok.Scary when it get like thats here, maybe I am just not used to guns cos we don't have them here usually.

in that short of amount of time, who has time to wait for the bomb to be detonated while they are checking, they are trained to shoot to kill... I am very sorry for the young man and his family, imagine how the cops feel, I am sure they are not sleeping well at night... :^(