Slashdot Mirror


Six Bomb Blasts Around Central London

M3rk1n_Muffl3y writes "There were six explosions around London this morning. Information is still emerging, but looks like there were bombs detonated on a bus near Russel Square and several others on the Underground around the City and King's Cross. It's been difficult to reach people on their mobiles."

18 of 3,468 comments (clear)

  1. Al Qaeda group claims responsibility by MoonFog · · Score: 5, Informative

    Source

    A previously unknown group calling itself "Secret Organisation al Qaeda in Europe" said it carried out the attacks.
    My thoughts go out to everyone in London!

    1. Re:Al Qaeda group claims responsibility by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Informative
      There are relatively few confirmed deaths and casualties. It's known by everyone on the ground, so far as I can see, that the figures are much higher, it's just the government can't say "400 people are dead" until it has a chance to examine 400 bodies.

      Anarchist groups haven't been involved in terrorism since the nineteenth Century and it's hard to believe they'd suddenly start now.

      I don't know if it's Al Qaeda (my understanding is that the latter is more an umbrella term anyway, see here for an interesting discussion, the four or so paragraphs starting from "That would seem to cut out Asimov"), but that said, the only other movement I can see engaging in terrorism in Britain would be some sort of break-away Irish group, a disaffected wing of the IRA or something, and I really don't recall the IRA ever doing anything so big. Their worst attrocities were two incidents where they blew up pubs.

      Realistically, Bin Laden's groups are the only likely culprits at this stage. I'm not sure I want to be proven wrong, because we'd be seeing a substantial new terrorist movement, be it the revival of a more extreme IRA or a third group.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:Al Qaeda group claims responsibility by whopis · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is very much not the IRA.

      It is completely against their MO.

      The IRA never seek to kill civilians, just to cause terror and as such have almost without exception issues coded warnings prior to the attacks.


      What are you talking about?
      Just because the IRA apologizes for one attack against civilians after 30 years doesn't mean it didn't happen!


      1972 - Bloody Friday (civilians targeted)
      1974 - Guildford pub bombing (civilians targeted)
      1974 - Birmingham pub bombing (civilians targeted)
      1982 - Hyde Park (military targeted)
      1983 - Harrods department store (civilians targeted)
      1984 - Brighton hotel (government officials targeted)
      1987 - Enniskillen (civilians targeted)
      1989 - Deal Marine Band (military targeted)
      1992 - Omagh (civilian contractors working for military)
      1993 - Warrington (children targeted)
      1993 - Bishopsgate (civilians targeted)
      1993 - Belfast Fish & Chip store (civilians targeted)
      1996 - Canary Wharf (civilians targeted)
      1996 - Manchester office building (civilians targeted)

      It is only on rare occasion that IRA attacks in England have been targeted at the military. They almost always go for civilian targets.

  2. travel updates for Southern england by dj_paulgibbs · · Score: 5, Informative

    London Underground - ALL suspended until further notice (not likely to be today) It is advised NOT to travel into London Marylebone, Cannon Street, Liverpool Street, Kings Cross, St Pancras, Euston, Victoria, Paddington, and Charing Cross are all closed until further notice Thameslink Rail services are not running AT ALL. Brighton and East Croydon stations are closed due to a security alert. According to National Rail Enquiries, Southern trains services are running "normal" services OUT OF LONDON only. Gatwick Express is still running but terminating at Clapham Junction. Heathrow Express has been terminated until further notice. It seems trains are running as far as Clapham Junction. Stations are being periodically closed and re-opened after they have been security checked so do call National Rail enquiries to check your journey first. Trains are of course going to be delayed by varying amounts as a result. Checking your journey by calling national rail enquiries is of course recommended - 08457 484950 option 2 Websites - http://www.networkrail.co.uk/ and particularly http://nrekb.com/london_underground.html

  3. Re:7 bombs by AltGrendel · · Score: 5, Informative
    There were initial reports of one that didn't explode. So there may have been 8 and they may have one to reverse engineer.

    That could make things interesting.

    --
    The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination

    - Douglas Adams

  4. FYI... by Noryungi · · Score: 5, Informative

    Vodafone and others have warned that emergency services will have priority on the GSM networks. Expect congestion and unreachable people if you try to join them on their cell phones.

    Londoners have been warned to stay at home. Commuters have been warned to avoid London.

    --
    The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
  5. Get the latest from BBC by Codeala · · Score: 5, Informative

    The latest news directly from the ad-free and registration-free BBC:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2005/london _explosions/

    (/. don't allow me to post anonymously...)

    --

    Codeala - Just another mindless drone
  6. Re:Mobiles by ettlz · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Government switches off mobiles in London automatically in any state of emergency (terror-related or otherwise) to keep the spectrum free for the emergency services. (See, for example, the Channel 4 documentary Mark Thomas's Secret Map of Britain.)

  7. Re:First Post by MoonFog · · Score: 5, Informative

    An Al Qaeda groups has claimed responsibility already.

    A lot of experts have also pointed to the attack being "typical of Al Qaeda".

  8. As it breaks... by irokie · · Score: 5, Informative

    Been following this for the last 3 hours.
    Apparently the Army are now on the streets of london, trying to help EMTs get to the injured, there's a train full of people still stuck underground. Public transport hs been shutdown in London and people are being advised to stay where they are and not go into the city.
    Reports are that there were 6 bombs, 3 on buses and 3 on subway trains.

    Tony Blair is on his way back to London from the G8 summit in Edinburgh

    Allegedly, al Qa'eda are claiming responsibility, but i haven't been able to find a definite source on this.

    BBC.co.uk has been swamped, but news.bbc.co.uk is still available (last i checked)

    This pisses me off royally... London was set to celebrate getting the Olympics today, huge open air celebrations, but that's all been cancelled. With all the humanitarian work that's been happening in the last weeks, you'd think that malcontents would be a little less belligerent. Progress is being made.
    Now the British (who have masses of experience dealing with terrorists) will be pissed off, and the Americans have an excuse to throw their weight around even more...

    Also, from talking to people in a few places, everyone seems to be thinking "Are we next?". Yes the British went into Iraq and Afghanistan, but they're been fairly well controlled for the most part. This is extremism at its worst. I don't want to kill the people who did this, i want to slap them in the face and tell them to cop themselves on... this is exactly the opposite of progress.

    --
    and if you see me strut, remind me of what left this outlaw torn...
  9. Some details by LizardKing · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was in the midst of this when it happened. The Metropolitan line was halted, then the Jubilee. The train driver announced a "power surge on the combine", which is probably a prearranged message to prevent panic in an emergency. Trains were then brought into the nearest station and the passengers requested to evacuate. The tube staff were very calm and efficient, and I didn't see any panic. There was defnitely a sense that something unusual had happened, and people were mostly silent as we filed out to the sound of recorded evacuation messages.

    Anyone trying to contact friends and relatives, please don't panic if you cannot get through. the cellphone networks are being taking in and out of public service so that the emergency services can use them reliably. Same may be true for regular phone lines.

    1. Re:Some details by ynnaD · · Score: 5, Informative

      I too was on the tube when this all happened, and can confirm the above.

      I was on the central line eastbound going from oxford circus at about 09:20, and there was an announcement that due to a suspect package Bank and one other station was closed. On the next stop the driver then announced that the whole underground system was closed to a power failure and asked everybody to leave the station immediately.

      Afterwards, found that my mobile did not work at all. I walked back to victoria station to try and catch a train home and found it closed off. One of the policemen there said that the mobile network had been closed in london (hence a lot of people using phone boxes), and that all public services were cancelled.

      I managed to then walk down to clapham junction and catch a train home from there.

  10. Re:More details by bheading · · Score: 5, Informative

    We can be pretty well assured that there will be more than two deaths. The London Underground will have been jam-packed.

    In London when there is a problem with the tube, connecting buses are brought in to substitute.It appears that the terrorist attack was carefully organized so that people being moved from the tube onto buses would also be moved into danger. If it is AQ, I'm scared that all of the heavy anti-terrorist legislation appears to have had no effect; if it's not AQ I'm even more scared.

  11. Maybe 4 bombs by Misanthropic+Lycanth · · Score: 5, Informative

    I heard on CNN that the same explosions were being reported by multiple stations due to the fact that they exploded on trains between tube stations.

    --

    Physics: Making the universe open source.
    1. Re:Maybe 4 bombs by ryanov · · Score: 5, Informative
      The "mindset of the left" phrasing is rhetoric that is designed to make people angry -- I see through it and it's not going to work. You cannot separate people into two groups.

      That aside, I'm sorry, but you can't just say "well, he was a bad guy, we had to do it regardless of the reason" after all of the lying and deception that this administration is guilty with. THAT is what everyone is really pissed off at. Everyone who is looking at this clusterfuck with their eyes open knows damn well that Bush didn't give a shit about the people of Iraq, but used that as his second or third reason that this "had to be done." THAT is what is evil.

      PS: Kuwait was slant-drilling into Iraqi oilfields. Iraq told the US, warned that they were going to invade. We said "meh, whatever." On July 16, a meeting of OPEC ("Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries") in Geneva ended with Iraq once more threatening military force against Kuwait for exceeding production quotas and for violating the agreement on drilling rights in the Rumaila oil field, a banana shaped area spanning both sides of the common border. Iraq charged Kuwait with cheating: taking more than its fair share of the oil in the field by using slant drilling techniques. Iraq further complained that Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had refused to cancel Iraq's debts from its war with Iran.

      The next day, July 17, Saddam threatened to use force against any Arab oil exporters who refused to abide by their production quotas. The day after this threat, July 18, Saddam massed 30,000 Iraqi troops on his border with Kuwait. The U.S. Senate voted sanctions against Iraq.

      On July 25, Egypt reported that Saddam was willing to settle his differences with Kuwait peacefully. The same day, Saddam was told by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, in a meeting in Baghdad that the United States had "no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait."

      http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydataba se/gulf_war.htm .
      Some more of that in here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United _States_(1988-present)

  12. Re:At the moment by Oxygen99 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, they didn't. Look at the Guildford and Birmingham pub bombings, Omagh or Warrington. The IRA had no more respect for civilians than any other terrorist organisation.

    --
    I had a dream, bright and carefree, but now there's doubt and gravity
  13. Count has to be higher by alistair · · Score: 5, Informative

    7 bombs and 2 deaths, the BBC web site has got this wrong. The bus in Russel Square was a double decker, packed with people leaving the tube and it was completely destroyed, these busses hold around 90 people when packed. The aAldgate explosion looked very bad an eyewitnesses were talking of 20 deaths. They are still cutting people from the tube at Russel square and there any many abulances at King Cross.

    I am writing this from an office block over the road from Bishopsgate and there is almost nothing on the roads apart from police and emergency veicles.I got caught halfway to work this morning and had to walk the rest of the way, I wish I had walked home instead but for a long time the announcements were talking of power failure rather than bombs and everyone assumed they would get the power working again. I guess this was a way of preventing panic.

    So I hope and pray the numbers are low but the thoughs of my colleages and I are with those who were caught in these awful events, as they were with the people in 9/11. I will also be going to give blood as soon as they announce where we can do this.

  14. Re:Read the Koran by Verminator · · Score: 5, Informative
    Of course, there's nothing hateful like that in the King James Bible.

    KJV - Exodus [32:27] And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.

    KJV - Jeremiah [18:21] Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

    KJV - Ephesians [5:5] For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

    All sorts of religious texts have been used throughout history to justify abhorrent acts. Nothing new. In my book, if they initiate force against the innocent, they're bad guys.

    --
    "The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." - Tacitus