- Exactly two weeks after suicide bombers struck in London,
a second four-bomb attack on the capital's transport system was inflicted
on the city. It may have failed to cause further death, but it did succeed
in creating a new climate of fear.
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- The co-ordinated assault mirrored the 7 July bombings,
which left 56 dead including the four suicide bombers. This time, the devices,
three on Underground trains and one on a bus, failed properly to ignite.
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- At least three of the bombers were believed to be still
at large last night, despite passengers wrestling with one of them. It
was unclear whether one man being treated at University College Hospital,
where there was a massive police operation yesterday, was linked to the
attacks.
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- The devices were on Tube trains at the Oval, Warren Street
and Shepherd's Bush, and on a No 26 bus in Shoreditch.
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- As on 7 July, the targets were in the north, west, east
and south of the city.
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- Police and intelligence services were investigating whether
this may have been a less effective copycat exercise by a more amateur
group of Muslim hardliners than the 7 July bombers. But there were indications
that the devices, though smaller, were made up of similar explosive to
the bombs two weeks previously, suggesting that it was an attack by a cell
linked to the 7 July bombers that went wrong.
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- That eventuality would shatter the hopes of millions
of Londoners that the attacks two weeks ago were a one-off.
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- Despite the intensive efforts of police and the security
services, yesterday's attacks were evidence of a further lack of intelligence
about potential bombers.
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- Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner,
said that forensic investigations indicated that there had been four bombs
which had failed to explode when detonated. He said: "Clearly, the
intention must have been to kill. You do not do this with another intention."
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- The discovery of backpacks containing explosive material
will provide police with a large amount of forensic information, allowing
comparison with fragments recovered two weeks ago. Initial investigations
were said to show marked similarities, raising fears that a bomb-maker,
possibly al-Qa'ida trained, remains at large.
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- Although there were reports that two people had been
arrested one man was led away by armed police in Whitehall, and another
detained near Warren Street police said that they were not related
to the incidents.
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- Sir Ian said there was a "resonance" between
the attacks, and the similarities between 7 July and yesterday were almost
immediately apparent.
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- The Tube bombs were on the Victoria line at Warren Street,
on the Northern line at Oval, and on the Hammersmith and City line at Shepherd's
Bush, while the bus bomb was in Shoreditch, in east London north,
south, west and east, the same points of the compass referred to in the
statement claiming responsibility for the 7 July bombings.
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- Three of them were on Underground trains and the fourth
on the top of a No 26 bus, which, like the bomb on the No 30 bus in Tavistock
Square, detonated about an hour later. Both had the destination of Hackney
on the front.
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- The incidents ratcheted up the fear factor in a city
only just getting its nerve back. Some eyewitnesses to the Tube evacuations
spoke of "panic" among passengers fearing carnage.
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- In their public statements yesterday, both Tony Blair
and Sir Ian were anxious to reassure the public; similarly, Underground
staff had clearly been instructed in the importance of remaining calm to
counter the panic effect of further incidents.
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- The first reports of explosions came just after 12.30pm
on a day when, ironically, the London Evening Standard newspaper was reporting
that the city was "learning to smile again".
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- At Shepherd's Bush station in west London, just before
12.30pm, the area was evacuated after a suspicious rucksack was discovered
on the station. The entire area was cleared and searches were still continuing
there and at all the other scenes last night. It was not clear whether
there was an explosion.
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- However, at both Oval and Warren Street there were reports
of small explosions over the next 15 minutes.
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- One woman, Andrea, who was at Oval station in south London,
said: "I was in a carriage and there was a big bang, it sounded like
a balloon had popped but a lot louder, and then we all moved to one end
of the carriage. There was something on the floor, you could see something
had exploded. They opened the door so we could move through into the next
carriage, and there was a guy just standing in the carriage. We pulled
into Oval and we all got off on to the platform. The guy just ran and started
running up the escalator. Everyone was screaming to stop him."
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- Ivan McCracken, a passenger on the Victoria line at Warren
Street, 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.
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- "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.
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- "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."
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- As emergency services went on to full alert and police
cordons were erected around the areas, events took on an alarmingly familiar
pattern to those just two weeks ago. Most of the Underground system ground
to a halt as a Code Amber alert, ordering drivers to pull into stations
and unload trains, was issued.
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- Almost exactly an hour later, at 1.30pm, the driver of
the No 26 bus, travelling along Hackney Road in Shoreditch, heard a bang
on the top deck. He stopped the bus and discovered that the windows on
the top deck had been blown out; there was also a smell of burning, according
to eyewitnesses. He evacuated the passengers and called the emergency services.
Police threw a cordon around the area.
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- By now, Tony Blair, who had earlier met officials to
discuss anti-terrorism measures, and was having lunch with the Australian
Prime Minister, John Howard, was notified; the Cabinet's Cobra committee
was convened. He cancelled all engagements, prepared for the worst.
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- However, it soon became clear that the physical effects
of the bombs were minimal. By mid-afternoon, the earlier warnings by police
to the public to " stay put" and wait for developments were replaced
by an assurance from Sir Ian that the "situation is under control"
and that the capital's workforce could head off home by whatever
transport was available.
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- The psychological effects on London may be more acute
and long-term. While the public face was one of calm and reassurance, privately,
both the Government and senior police officers were said to be desperately
anxious about the effect on public confidence in their own safety in the
nation's capital. Though unconnected to the attacks, the arrest at gun-point
of a man at the gates of Downing Street illustrated the tension. Last night,
there was another large evacuation in Portland Square, north of Oxford
Street.
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- © 2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article300764.ece
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