London simulates terror attack

2003-09-07 17:57

London - Hundreds of British police and emergency workers on Sunday staged a major exercise testing their response to a terrorist strike on London - an attack which police believe is inevitable sooner or later.

Amid scenes reminiscent of a Hollywood disaster movie, the simulated chemical attack on the capital's subway system came days ahead of the second anniversary of the September 11 strikes on the United States.

British officials said their long-planned exercise, in the heart of London's financial district, was not in response to a specific threat and that no real chemical agents were being released.

But the scenario was designed to be as realistic as possible, and resembled a 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by the Aum Supreme Truth cult which killed 12 people and injured thousands of others.

Some 500 police, fire and ambulance staff, together with personnel from the London Underground or the Tube, as the capital's subway is popularly known, took part in the exercise.

The simulation, which began shortly before midday involved passengers travelling to Bank station being overcome by an unknown chemical.

Their train stopped in a tunnel just before the station, where the line is 120 metres below ground.

Emergency services were ordered to reach police cadets playing the role of casualties, to simulate evacuating them to street level and to decontaminate them in special shower tents.

As the "walking wounded" emerged, they were given a knee-length orange plastic cape with a hood and told to shed their clothes on the pavement.

Decontamination tents sprang up nearby, and rescue workers milled around covered in green, head-to-toe protective suits.

Signs reading "decontamination zone" were set up and streets were sealed off around Bank station, a district which is home to a number of high-profile institutions, including the Bank of England and the London Stock Exchange.

Police and fire officers used chemical monitoring equipment before going underground to determine the substance used in the simulated attack.

Asked why emergency workers were not going straight in, a British transport police spokesperson said: "That's what they did in Tokyo in the Sarin attack and they all died.

"They are here to determine that there is a chemical risk and they will await the fire brigade to wear chemical suits before entering the scene."

Attack on London "possible"

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling, one of the ministers with responsibility for the exercise, told Sky News: "We have got to test our response to what could happen in the event of a terrorist attack.

"I am afraid we live in the sort of a world where an attack on London can't be ruled out."

On Thursday, British Home Secretary David Blunkett said the possibility that the capital could be hit by a suicide bombing was the "logical conclusion" of events across the world since September 11.

Blunkett refused to describe an attack here as "inevitable" but said Londoners had to be prepared for the possibility and that the government could not guarantee public safety.

His comments came in the wake of a warning from London's Scotland Yard police chief John Stevens, who said a terrorist attack on Britain was inevitable.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Times newspaper reported that under government plans, "high-level intelligence" showing an attack was imminent could force a mass evacuation of large parts of the capital.

Fears of a terror strike were raised in January this year when traces of the deadly toxin ricin were found in a London apartment.

According to a press report, the toxin could have been part of a plan to mount an attack on the London subway system.

- AFP