Facts about the latest attacks
2005-07-22 12:05
London - London on Thursday faced its second apparent attack on the city's transportation system in two weeks, following the July 7 bombings in which at least 56 people died.
Here are the facts known so far about the latest incidents:
THE ATTACK: As with July 7, there were four sites of attack, three on London Underground trains and one on a bus.
Police have not specified what happened, but witnesses in all locations reported small-scale explosions, all seeming to come from rucksack-borne bombs.
The three Underground blasts happened almost simultaneously at Shepherd's Bush station in west London, Oval station to the south and Warren Street station to the north of the city centre.
An eyewitness on the train at Oval station described seeing a man run away after his rucksack exploded with a small blast, with similar reports of a rucksack exploding at Warren Street.
At Shepherd's Bush, a witness told a newspaper he saw a man lying flat on the ground on top of his smoking rucksack, seemingly dazed and surprised to be alive.
About an hour later, the driver of a Number 26 double-decker bus in Shoreditch, east of the city centre, heard a bang on the vehicle's top deck followed by smoke, and found some of the windows had been blown out.
VICTIMS: The blasts appear to have been far smaller than two weeks ago, with only one injury initially reported. Police later said that no one had been hurt.
THE INTENTION: According to police, the attacks were meant to kill people but had gone awry.
"Clearly the intention must have been to kill. You don't do this with any other intention," said police chief Blair, adding that "the intention of the terrorists has not been fulfilled."
Terrorist experts have said that the loud, popping bangs heard by some witnesses indicated the bomb detonators might have gone off without triggering the main explosive blasts.
THE IMPACT: As with July 7, there was little panic, although some people fleeing the affected Underground trains were distressed.
Soon after the alerts, much of the Underground network - still coping with the impact of the blasts two weeks ago - was suspended. Streets around the affected stations were sealed off, bringing traffic to a standstill.
THE ATTACKERS: Police, while describing the attackers as "terrorists," have not said anything about the possible perpetrators.
But there were striking similarities between Thursday's incidents and the July 7 attacks, which police believe were carried out by four British Muslim suicide bombers with links to the Al-Qaeda extremist group.
In both attacks, three Underground lines and a bus were targeted at compass points around London. All the affected lines pass through King's Cross station, where the July 7 bombers are known to have dispersed. The attack on the bus occurred an hour after the Underground attacks, just like on July 7.
The explosives also appeared to have been carried in rucksacks, as was the case a fortnight before.
It is not know whether the bombers intended to kill themselves. However, witnesses said two of the men seemed disoriented or annoyed when only small explosions occurred.
THE INVESTIGATION: Police were immediately hopeful that items left behind after the latest attacks could bring vital clues, also to the July 7 blasts.
"We do believe that this may represent a significant breakthrough in the sense that there is forensic material at these scenes," Commissioner Blair told a press conference.
Police were also hunting for the attackers, one of whom was almost caught by passers-by as he fled from Oval station, witnesses reported.
THE REACTION: Again, the official response has been for Londoners to continue with their lives as normal, so far as possible.
The attackers were trying to "intimidate people and to scare them and to frighten them to stop them going about their normal business," Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters.
"It is important that we respond by keeping to our normal lives and doing what we want to do because to do otherwise is, in a sense, to give them the very thing they are looking for."
- AFP