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| Britain | ||
| Possible bomber on the loose in London, wires seen protruding from suspect | ||
| 2005-07-21 | ||
| Sounds to me like dud bombs and boomers who panicked. Staff at a central London hospital were told Thursday to look out for an Asian or black man with wires protruding from his shirt after witnesses reported seeing someone of that description fleeing an Underground station hit by a small blast, British TV reports said. In a memo to staff at University College hospital, officers asked employees to look for a black or Asian male, 6 feet 2 inches tall, wearing a blue top with a hole in the back and wires protruding from it, Sky News reported.
Eyewitnesses to two of the four explosions to hit this city's transportation system told of close calls with what could have been would-be bombers running away after dropping backpacks on subway trains. âWe all got off on the platform and the guy just ran and started running up the escalator,â one witness who gave her name as Andrea told the British Broadcasting Corp. âEveryone was screaming for someone to stop him. He ran past me ... and he ran out of the station. In fact he left a bag on the train,â she said of the incident at Warren Street station in central London. Another witness told Sky News that passengers tried to prevent the man from running away, but failed. Sky News also reported witnesses seeing a man dump a backpack in a subway car at Oval station, south London, before fleeing as the doors closed. Witness Ivan McCracken told Sky he smelled smoke and that panicked people rushed into his carriage. âPeople were panicking. But very fortunately the train was only 15 seconds from the station,â McCracken told Sky News. Hauntingly similar Thursdayâs incidents were hauntingly similar to the blasts two weeks ago, which involved explosions at three Underground stations simultaneously â quickly followed by a blast on a bus. Those bombings, during the morning rush hour, also occurred in the center of London, hitting the Underground railway from various directions. Thursdayâs incidents, however, were more geographically spread out. London Ambulance said it was called to the Oval station at 12:38 p.m. and Warren Street at 12:45 p.m. Explosions also went off at Shepherds Bush station in west London and on the No. 26 bus heading toward Hackney, east London. The July 7 attacks, which mostly occurred in central London, began at 8:51 a.m. Closed-circuit TV cameras on Hackney Road showed the bus immobilized at a stop with its signal lights flashing. The area around the bus had been cordoned off. A blast blew out the windows of the bus, but there were no reported injuries. âThe bus driver heard a bang at the back of the bus. He thought it was probably a vehicle that had hit him,â an unnamed police officer told Reuters. âHe stopped at a nearby bus stop and saw a suspect package at the back of the bus,â the officer said. Services on four Underground lines were suspended following the incidents, London Underground said. âI was in the carriage and we smelled smoke â it was like something was burning,â said Losiane Mohellavi, 35, who was evacuated at Warren Street. âEveryone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking,â Mohellavi said.
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| Posted by:phil_b |
| #15 Lol. Well, I can't think of any other culture that puts less emphasis on the realities of life in their idea of "education". Health, math (beyond individual commerce), science, history, et al -- sacrificed on the altar of memorizing the fucking qu'uran. They're prepared for absolutely nothing outside of Islam, by Islam. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-21 22:49 |
| #14 To err is human, to really screw things up requires a bunch of Muslims. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-21 22:43 |
| #13 Dave and phil nail it, IMHO, regards the no claims issue... fizzles, heh. Embarrassing to admit incompetence... Lions of Islam? Um, no... more like Pussies of London, lol! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-21 22:30 |
| #12 Interesting.... usually by now, some group, maybe two are claiming "responsibility" of the bombers, proud of what they did. Am I missing something? Have any of these groups claimed responsibility? Remembering how our Fallujah Marines broadcasted questions of their manhood to get them to come out and face them. This just has to be one big "weak horse" for the followers. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2005-07-21 22:22 |
| #11 Homemade explosives and detonators deteriate quickly. I've just read 'keep in a cool dry place and use within 7 days'. Gotta watch those 'best before' dates. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-21 22:13 |
| #10 Lots of people have PhDs in things that have nothing to do with explosives chemistry, or even the ability to follow directions. The first team two weeks ago were not from amongst the ignorant and poverty-stricken, nor even the petty criminal class like the Shoe Bomber idiot. It remains to be seen whether this second bunch could equally afford to take time off for exciting extracurricular activities, but I suspect that their daddies were equally well fed. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-07-21 22:09 |
| #9 Hmmm. I've been off 'n on, lately, and didn't see or read the tiff about this. I have no doubt that the typical "cell" of jihadis is as likely a zoo mix as not. The first London / Leeds 4 were somewhat homogenous except for the 30 yr old married guy. I'll bet good money it's usually a zoo -- and I believe in the theory that they (at least 3 of them) did not know they were suiciders - they were drafted. Who is willing to blow himself up - for any cause? Well, lol, that has to be a combination of very personal tics and flakes, no? 3 or 4 Muzzies who happen to live near each other and go to the same moskkk and socialize might easily agree to do the jihadi thing by placing bombs. That one is easy to see - macho bravado, yadd3. But for those same guys to all also be willing to blow themselves up - no. I'd agree with you. The odds are that the potential boomers, whether they accept the suicide thing or not, are grouped geographically. Convenience, less suspicious, etc. The plans drawn up by the Traveling Masterminds & Bombmakers may, or may not require suicide. If the plans do call for it, I would guess that they draft suckers where needed. Does that make sense? |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-21 22:07 |
| #8 That's what I've been thinking all day: maybe the "B" team decided to try its hand at this household chemistry business and make another batch of bombs, and screwed up the recipe. Hence, a whole bunch of fizzles. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2005-07-21 21:51 |
| #7 Hey .com, does this Islamo-bumble shoot down the "highly educated" theory of AzCat, who dissed my assertion (on Monday) that some of these guys are just uneducated idiots played by the higher-ups? Or is this as good as "highly educated" suicide bombers get? Wonder what you think. BTW, wasn't playing the "pity card" on the Islamofacists, just remembering all the reports of young, uneducated dumb-asses being set up, and of even educated dumb-asses being set up to suicide bomb unknowingly, by their "superiors." |
| Posted by: ex-lib 2005-07-21 21:51 |
| #6 I haven't seen any remarks to this effect here, but one "terrorism expert" on Fox early today noted that if you mix TATP incorrectly, getting the proportions wrong or improperly prepared, it can burst into flames, rather than explode - and that in 3 of the 4 cases today, the backpacks were reported to have done precisely that. So, perhaps, without their chemist they simply didn't follow instructions and screwed the pooch. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-21 21:31 |
| #5 From a Times report at LGF: He pointed out that police had recovered unused explosives from various sites, including a hire car abandoned by bombers at Luton. Police carried out ten controlled explosions on the hire car in Luton station car park before they placed it on a low-loader and took it away. âOne speculation Iâve had all along is that they left those explosives in the car for another group to pick up and carry out a second attack, but when they got there the car had already been taken over by the police, so they have had to cobble something together fairly quickly,â he said. I had the same thought. While the police described it explosives. They were likely ready to go bombs. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-21 21:21 |
| #4 Well, if the explosives are intact - detonate them in situ. . . For safety's sake of course. |
| Posted by: Doc8404 2005-07-21 19:51 |
| #3 robocop err roboterrorist? |
| Posted by: Hupomoque Spoluter7949 2005-07-21 19:43 |
| #2 Sky News is now reporting the 2 arrests are unrelated. Also the explosives were similar to 2 weeks ago and bombs a similar size. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-21 17:58 |
| #1 Guy from Jane's speculated if explosives from same source as 2 weeks ago, they could have 'gone off' over last 2 weeks. Police have apparently caught one of the bombers and another man outside Downing Street who may be connected. Access to Downing Street was closed off years ago. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-21 17:46 |