London’s Burning
July 7th, 2005, 8:51am.
London, your time is up.
Three Underground trains were blasted and the top deck of a double-decker bus got blown off. Apparently eyewitnesses reported seeing limbs, arms and other body parts flying and splattered everywhere when the bus exploded.
The first explosion had come at 8:51 a.m. BST near Liverpool Street, Aldgate and Aldgate East Underground stations. At 8:56 a.m. there was a second explosion on a Piccadilly Line train near Kings Cross and Russell Square tube stations. At 9:17 a.m. there was an explosion on a train traveling into Edgware Road station, affecting two other trains. At 9:47a.m there was an explosion on a bus at Upper Woburn Place near Tavistock Square.
The image above displays the location of the bombing areas in Central London.
[Courtesy of CNN.com]
[The following article was taken from CNN.com’s website]
Below is a minute-by-minute timeline of the multiple explosions rocking London. All times are British Summer Time.
8:51 am An explosion occurs on an underground train traveling between Aldgate and Liverpool Street stations on the Circle Line.
8:56 An explosion hits an underground train traveling on the Picadilly Line between King’s Cross and Russell Square stations.
9:17 A third explosion occurs on a train approaching Edgware Road station. The explosion blows a hole in a wall, hitting a second train and possibly a third.
9:47 A No. 30 bus on Upper Woburn Place near Tavistock Square is destroyed by a fourth explosion. Pictures show the roof of the double-decker bus ripped off and witnesses report seeing body parts in the road, Reuters reports.
10:02 Scotland Yard says it is dealing with a “major incident.”
10:47 Home Secretary Charles Clarke says multiple London blasts have caused “terrible injuries.”
11:15 European Union commissioner for justice and security affairs Franco Frattini tells reporters in Rome that the blasts in London are terrorist attacks.
11:35 London police chief tells Reuters news agency there are “indications of explosives” at one of the blast sites.
12:00 pm British Prime Minister Tony Blair says the “barbaric” London blasts are terrorist attacks and were designed to coincide with the G8 summit in Scotland. He will return to London.
12:15 A group calling itself the Group of al-Qaeda of Jihad Organization in Europe lays claim to the blasts, posting a statement on an Islamist web site. The claim cannot be independently verified.
12:27 Police and hospital officials tell Reuters that a total of 185 people are wounded across London, 10 of them seriously and seven critically.
12:51 Emergency services personnel tells CNN writer William Chamberlain that all survivors had been evacuated from Kings Cross station, leaving the dead below ground “in the double digits.”
12:53 Britain’s Home Secretary Charles Clarke tells the House of Commons there were four explosions in central London and the underground system will be closed all day. They would decide later in day whether to resume bus services. Earlier six attacks were reported.
2:38 U.S. law enforcement sources say the British government has said that at least 40 people have been killed. London hospitals report at least 300 wounded, the Associated Press reports.
3:26 London deputy police chief Brian Paddick says police had no warning of the attacks and have not received any claims of responsibility. He says police are keeping an open mind over who carried out the attacks and that it is unclear whether a claim of responsibility by Al Qaeda is genuine or whether suicide bombers were involved. No arrests have been made in connection with the attacks.
3:41 Assistant chief ambulance officer Russell Smith says the service has treated 45 patients with serious or critical injuries. A further 300 patients have been treated for minor injuries.
4:25 Police issue the following casualty hotline number for people concerned about friends and relatives: +44 (0)870 1566 344.
4:32 Transport authorities say Docklands Light Railway services in east London and mainline rail services have resumed, except out of King’s Cross and Victoria stations. Buses in central London are also returning to service. All underground services remain suspended.
5:43 Prime Minister Tony Blair says that Britain will not be intimidated by terrorism and promises intense police and security services action to bring those behind the bombings to justice. “I would also pay tribute to the stoicism and resilience of the people of London who have responded in a way typical of them,” says Blair.
5:49 The United Nations Security Council passes a resolution condemning the London attacks and expressing “outrage and indignation at today’s appalling terrorist attacks against the people of the United Kingdom that cost human life and caused injuries and immense human suffering.”
