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| Britain | |
| Tube cleared after small blasts | |
| 2005-07-21 | |
| BBC reports: A number of Tube stations have been evacuated and lines closed after three blasts in what Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair says is a "serious incident". Sir Ian appealed to Londoners to stay where they were and said the transport system was effectively shut down. The minor explosions used detonators only, a BBC reporter said. In addition, a Number 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green had its windows blown out by a blast. There were no injuries. Large areas around Warren Street, Oval and one of the Shepherd's Bush Tube stations have been cordoned off. One person was injured at Warren Street. There were reports the injured person may have been holding a rucksack containing the detonator. Lines suspended Police said armed officers had been deployed to University College Hospital after an incident. The whole of the Northern Line has been suspended, along with the Victoria Line and the Hammersmith and City line. Police have set up cordons round the stations A number of other stations were closed including Westminster tube station, Waterloo tube station and King's Cross Thameslink. There were also reports that St Paul's tube and Oxford Circus tube station were closed. Tony Blair cancelled events in the afternoon and will be attending a meeting of the Cobra committee along with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. The BBC's Andrew Winstanley said devices had been found but appeared to have been dummies, containing no explosives. London Underground went to an amber alert with trains taken to the next station and evacuated. An eyewitness at Oval station said there had been a small bang, and a man had then run off when the Tube reached the station. A spokesman for Stagecoach said the driver of the number 26 bus travelling through Shoreditch had heard a bang on upper deck, gone upstairs and seen the windows were blown out. The bus driver was very shaken but said to be fine. At Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line station, police told reporters that a man had threatened to blow himself up and then ran off. Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street. "I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning. "Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking." The BBC's Rory Barnett said there had been no smoke on the platform at Warren St. Liz Edwards, who works near Warren Street Underground station, said the area was full of activity. "There are police, fire engines and ambulances all around there. A guy from our office had just come back from the station and said the police were aggressively keeping people away from the station and that you could not get anywhere near it."
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #15 After last week's bombing there was speculation that the bombers might not have known they were doing a suicide mission - that the bombs contained timers and may have been expected to detonate a half-hour later than they did. I don't recall the exact details. This week, we have a similar attack, but in which the detonators alone exploded. I wonder if maybe the bombers pulled the detonators out to avoid becoming unwilling martyrs? I have no experience w/ explosives, so I don't know if that's possible. |
| Posted by: BH 2005-07-21 18:12 |
| #14 Just reminds me of back in the 60's when I was in High School some greaser got ahold of some blasting oil and set it off in a locker. All it did was burn, it never detonated. If they tried the same method that worked with other home brew stuff on AM/Oil they might have wondered why they didn't get an earth shattering KABOOM! only alot of bad smelling smoke. |
| Posted by: bruce 2005-07-21 15:54 |
| #13 Afraid not, Howard. At least, I don't think so. Know the Mason's Arms, Marylebone, pretty well though. There's reputedly a tunnel leading to the old site of the Tyburn Tree in the basement there - would be a good place to take a un-ex-plodeydope for a pint and packet of scratchings before re-enacting one of London's historical spectacles. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-07-21 13:59 |
| #12 Ah Pubs! Good O. Chin up and all that. Nothing the Royal Flying Corps can't handle. |
| Posted by: Have Tongs Will Travel 2005-07-21 13:46 |
| #11 Hilarious Bulldog - you ever eat at Rasa Express on the Euston Road? Walked out of the place and there was ethe world and his aunt going down to Warren Street tube. I reckon news got out that they'd got one alive. Even Traffic Wardens were being bused in for a go.. Have been to pub. Strange day. |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2005-07-21 12:25 |
| #10 da da duhduh dada duh duh |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2005-07-21 12:22 |
| #9 Heh. Those cameras are going to turn up a lot of footage resembling Benny hill sequences, methinks. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-07-21 12:13 |
| #8 So, after all this, of what value have all the cameras and surveillance around London proven themselves to be? Slightly more useful than moderate Muslims. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-07-21 11:25 |
| #7 So, after all this, of what value have all the cameras and surveillance around London proven themselves to be? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-07-21 11:13 |
| #6 After reading the other articles, I agree. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-07-21 11:09 |
| #5 it would be consistent with many other articles that we have read that they do dummy runs. When they do dummy runs, it's done without explosives just to get timing down and check security measures. This sounds like someone did a bad job of putting the bombs together. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-07-21 11:07 |
| #4 devices had been found but appeared to have been dummies, containing no explosives A wannabe sounds likely but it would be consistent with many other articles that we have read that they do dummy runs. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-07-21 10:43 |
| #3 We still have to see what is going on in this hospital... |
| Posted by: Dutchgeek 2005-07-21 10:03 |
| #2 Intent was there, even if the execution failed. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-07-21 10:02 |
| #1 Wantabe or no, terror is terror, as in causing mass panick and fear, etc. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-07-21 09:55 |