Near-simultaneous explosions rocked the London subway and a double-decker bus at the morning rush hour on Thursday, police said, causing at least two deaths, injuring scores of riders and sending bloodied victims fleeing from debris-strewn blast sites.
London’s police chief said authorities found indications of explosives at the scene of one of the blasts — which erupted as the Group of Eight (G8) summit got under way — and that there are concerns it was a coordinated terror attack.
“We are concerned that this is a coordinated attack. We are aware that one of the sites does contain indications of explosives,” Sir Ian Blair said on Sky News.
The explosions caused officials to shut down the entire bus and underground transport network. They came a day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and as the G8 summit was starting in Scotland.
A group calling itself “The Secret Organisation of al-Qaeda in Europe” has posted a claim of responsibility for the series of blasts in London, saying they were in retaliation for Britain’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The statement, which also threatened attacks in Italy and Denmark, was published on a website popular with Islamic militants, according to Elaph, a secular Arabic-language news website, and Der Spiegel magazine in Berlin, which both published the text on their websites.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the explosions in London a deadly “series of terrorist attacks” and said he would return temporarily to London from the G8 summit.
Blair, appearing shaken, said there were deaths and injuries, but gave no casualty figure.
“It’s clear that they are a series of terrorist attacks. There are people who have died, and people who are injured.”
He said the attacks clearly were timed with the opening of the G8 summit, but said the gathering would continue despite his departure.
“It is particularly barbaric that this has happened on a day when people are meeting to help the problems of poverty in Africa and … change in the environment,” he said.
Blair said the leaders are resolved to defeat terrorism.
“It is important that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction,” he said.
Italy’s European commissioner was quoted as saying by Italian news agencies that the explosions were a terrorist strike against Europe.
“What has happened is the tragic confirmation that terrorism strikes once more at the heart of Europe,” Franco Frattini was reported as saying by the Apcom and Ansa news agencies.
“It’s necessary to immediately activate coordination between intelligence and police services and offer England all the help possible,” Frattini, Europe’s commissioner for justice and home affairs, was quoted as saying.
Washington’s Metro train system on Thursday boosted security, dispatching more police officers after the blasts in London, local transportation officials said.
“In response to events in London, the Metro transit police will increase their presence in and around the Metro transit system,” the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said in a statement. “We ask customers to please be alert and report any unusual activity or suspicious packages.”
Panic on London’s streets
Sky News showed a picture of a mangled red bus with its top collapsed, and police said they suspected a bomb caused the explosion. Bloodied and bandaged witnesses reported panicked crowds fleeing as the blast rained glass and other debris on to the street.
BBC TV broadcast footage of a paramedic trying to revive one of the wounded, pumping the chest of his bloodied and blackened body.
“There have been a number of dreadful incidents across London today,” said Home Secretary Charles Clarke, Britain’s top law-enforcement officer. He said there were “terrible injuries”.
Police said they had reports of at least two deaths and nine people injured in seven blasts. But Blair, the police chief, prepared the public for the casualty toll to rise.
“There are many casualties,” he said. “It is still a confusing situation.”
The police chief said there had been no warning.
“We have been at a very high state of alert. Of course, if there had been any kind of specific warnings we would have dealt with it,” he said. “We are not aware of any warning at the moment.”
Dow Jones Newswires said police were reporting explosions on at least two other buses, but those reports could not be confirmed.
The seven explosions that rocked London on Thursday caused at least two
deaths and many serious injuries, police said.
Blasts rocked six underground stations, a spokesperson at Scotland Yard said. She listed the stations as Edgware Road, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Russell Square, Aldgate East and Moorgate.
Another explosion ripped through a bus near Russell Square.
Aldgate, in East London, is close to the site where London’s main Olympic facilities will be built.
London Ambulance Service said several vehicles had been dispatched to the area near Liverpool Street station.
Several Tube stations were closed following the incident, including the busy King’s Cross station in north London.
Bradley Anderson, a Tube passenger, told Sky News that “there was some kind of explosion or something” as his train reached the Edgware Road station in north-east London.
“Everything went black and we collided into some kind of oncoming train,” Anderson said.
Simon Tonkyn (51), who had been travelling from Paddington station to Aldgate, in east London, told the Press Association: “There was just an enormous bang and a lot of smoke.”
“A group of us got fire extinguishers and were able to smash through the carriage door and I now just feel totally numb,” he said.
The explosions sent stocks plummeting in Europe. The FTSE 100 dropped 124,54 points to 5Â 105,10 by late morning. The DAX was down 3% to 4Â 474,76, while in Paris, the CAC 40 dropped 2,75%. Exchanges elsewhere in Europe were also down.