Non-Subscriber Extract
Massive hunt for perpetrators of London bomb blasts
- Article Tools
| 08 July 2005 |
Massive hunt for perpetrators of London bomb blasts
By Anna Costin,
JTIC Reporter
Police confirmed this afternoon (8 July) that at least 50 people were killed in yesterday’s bomb attacks in London. Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said that this figure was likely to rise but would not reach as much as 100. Twenty-two people remain in a critical condition and there were around 700 casualties in total, 350 of whom were taken to hospital.
Speaking at a late morning press conference he said that bodies had yet to be recovered from the site between Kings Cross and Russell Square underground stations, but that no living casualties were still trapped. He said that that site was the most complex to reach and that rescue workers had not yet got to the first carriage, where the device detonated.
He said there was nothing to suggest - at this stage - that they were suicide attacks.
Sir Ian spoke of the ‘implacable resolve’ of the Metropolitan Police to track down those responsible.
A massive operation is under way to hunt down those responsible for the London bomb attacks. Police, intelligence and security service personnel are working around the clock and forensic teams are at the sites of the attacks examining evidence.
No arrests have yet been made, the BBC and Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has blamed the attacks on Islamist militants intent on imposing extremism on the world. He was supported by leaders around the world, including G8 heads of state at the Gleneagles summit and leaders of Arab nations.
Most of the London transport network is running a normal service this morning (8 July), although the Hammersmith and City and Circle Underground lines remain suspended and Kings Cross Station is closed.
The first attack occurred on 7 July at 0851 BST (0751 GMT) on a Hammersmith and City line tube at Aldgate East underground station. This was followed at 0856 BST by a blast on a Piccadilly line underground train between Russell Square and Kings Cross. Around 20 minutes later, at 0917 BST, a bomb exploded at Edgware Road. At 0947 BST a number 30 bus exploded at Tavistock Square near the British Medical Association building.
The bus was travelling from Euston Station to Russell Square packed with people turned away from tube stations at Euston, Liverpool Street and Kings Cross. It had been diverted from its normal Hackney-Marylebone route.
Casualties confirmed on 7 July were as follows: 21 dead at King’s Cross, seven at Liverpool Street and five at Edgware Road. Police announced on 8 July that 13 people had died in the Tavistock Square bus bombing.
The main hospitals that received casualties were: St Mary’s, Paddington; Royal London, Mile End; and University College Hospital.
A previously unheard-of group calling itself the Organisation Group of Al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in Europe claimed responsibility for the attacks in an Internet statement, saying that they were in response to British military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The BBC translated the statement and posted it on its news website:
"In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate, may peace be upon the cheerful one and undaunted fighter, Prophet Mohammad, God's peace be upon him.
Nation of Islam and Arab nation: Rejoice for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist Crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters.
We have repeatedly warned the British government and people. We have fulfilled our promise and carried out our blessed military raid in Britain after our mujahideen exerted strenuous efforts over a long period of time to ensure the success of the raid.
We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all the Crusader governments that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. He who warns is excused.
God says: "You who believe: If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly."
The attacks left central London’s transport system in chaos. The entire underground was suspended and there were no bus services in London’s central Zone One area. Several mainline railway stations in the capital experienced disruption and delays to services and some mainline services terminated outside London. Airports continued operating normally, as did the Eurostar service in and out of Waterloo Station.
Jane's Information Group is an impartial supplier of authoritative and accurate information and inclusion of this material in its information services in no way implies its endorsement or support of the views expressed therein.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]