Armed police sent to London hospital
2005-07-21 18:28
London - Police said they have sent armed officers to investigate an "incident" at University College Hospital in London on Thursday, as emergency services responded to several bombings in the city.
"We deployed armed response officers to an incident that was occurring at University College Hospital," a spokesperson said, referring to the major hospital in central London.
He was unable to confirm reports on Sky News about a man with a device attached to him and wires coming out seen in the area of the hospital.
A string of blasts on London's transport system sent screaming passengers fleeing in panic as police evacuated three London Underground stations and cordoned off a bus with shattered windows.
"We know we had four explosions or attempted explosions," London police chief Ian Blair told reporters.
Three armed officers were seen going into the major incident unit at University College Hospital (UCH), just minutes before someone was carried from an ambulance into the unit on a stretcher.
That followed reports that someone had been seen "running away" from nearby Warren Street Underground station in the wake of the incident there.
Sky News reported that UCH staff had been passed an internal memo asking them to look out for a black, possibly Asian man, about 1.87m, with wires protruding from a hole in his blue top.
They were instructed to call 999, the police emergency number, if they saw the man, according to the report.
- AFP