More than 50 people died in Thursday’s four terrorist bombings in London, the city’s police chief said on Friday.
Sir Ian Blair, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said work continues to establish the precise number of dead from the blasts on three subway trains and a double-decker bus.
Blair said there is no evidence that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.
“We have absolutely nothing to suggest this was a suicide bombing attack, although [we have] nothing at this stage to rule that out,” Blair told a news conference.
Police on Thursday had confirmed that 35 people died on subway trains. Blair said one person had died in a hospital, and it was unclear whether that victim was on a train or in the bus.
“Initially, the forensic investigation suggests that each device used had less than 10 pounds [4,5kg] of high explosives,” said Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman. He said the size of the explosives indicates they would have been small enough to carry in backpacks.
“We do believe that each device put on the Tube trains was put on the floor of the carriages,” Hayman said.
Police denied that they had found any unexploded devices, as an unidentified United States official had claimed. They attributed the report to the initial confusion about the number of bombs.
Hayman appealed for patience as the investigation proceeds.
“Our people are working under the most extreme circumstances,” he said.
Blair said the attacks have “all the hallmarks” of an al-Qaeda attack. The police commissioner also said it is possible an active terror cell is still intact and capable of another attack.
“We must remain vigilant,” he said.
Near the Russell Square tube station, police still haven’t gotten near the carriage, fearing the tunnel is unsafe, Hayman said. Twenty-one dead were confirmed in that incident. Authorities have not been able to remove the bodies from that site.
“I would ask for everyone’s patience in the amount of time it will take us to progress this matter.”
Blair confirmed that police considered shutting down London’s cellphone networks on Thursday as the explosions were reported, but ruled it out.
“We did consider it. We do have that ability,” Blair said. But he said commanders considered how that would affect public confidence, and decided not to do it.
Iraqis link attacks to Western policies
Meanwhile, reports Kamal Taha, Iraqis who face suicide bombings on a daily basis on Friday condemned the terrorist attacks in London, saying they go against Islamic teachings, but many also blamed US and British policies for the rise in extremism worldwide.
“[US President George] Bush and [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair say Iraq is the battleground in the fight against terrorism, and they say they need to fight here to stop violence from spreading to their own homes,” said Soad Mohammed, a 40-year-old teacher in a Sunni district of Baghdad.
“But it’s precisely because of what they’re doing in Iraq that they now face violence at home,” she said.
“They are reaping the fruit of what they sowed,” she added.
Khaled Yassin, a 30-year-old taxi driver, said: “Yesterday I was amazed when I got home from work to hear about bombings at the top of the news which, for once, weren’t in Baghdad,” adding that he even joked with his wife that the terrorists had moved to London because the day had been relatively quiet in the Iraqi capital.
Attacks in the Baghdad currently average about 20 a day, including both bombings and shootings, while car bombs average eight a week, down 50% from last month, according to a senior US military officer.
For Karar Mohsom (33), shopping in the Shi’ite al-Shola district of town, the London attacks prove that if Westerners “think they can escape terrorism, they are very much mistaken”, he said.
“Seeing innocent people on their way to work being killed makes me sad,” but “they are now drinking from the same bitter cup as we [are],” he said.
“It’s US and British policy towards the Arab world and towards Iraq which is to blame for the attack” in London, said Mustafa Mohammad (45), selling furniture in the Sunni district of al-Azamiyah.
“If you live in a glass house, you shouldn’t be throwing stones,” he added.
“The West must alter its policies or the whole world will be engulfed in violence,” said Nabil Mohammed, a professor of international relations at Baghdad University.
“In Iraq, people have been subject to attacks for over two years all because of the occupation of the country” by foreign forces, he added.
Speaking in the southern city of Basra, Hassan Fadhal, a 35-year-old railway employee, said terrorists in London aimed to sully the image of Islam.
“They are targeting Islam,” he said, adding that such attacks should be condemned “whether they happen in London, Basra or anywhere else in the world”.
“But at the same time, I also blame America and Bush because we must not forget that Bush supported [Osama] bin Laden,” leader of the al-Qaeda extremist network during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, he added.
On Thursday, in the wake of the deadly explosions in London, Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani said this offered proof that “what is happening in Iraq can happen in any country”.
“I’m telling my Arab brothers that terrorism today in Iraq will tomorrow affect other Arab countries, as has already happened in Yemen and Saudi Arabia,” he warned.
Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari also called for foreign support for his government’s fight against insurgents, warning that “car bombs can be exported everywhere”.
The international community “must provide greater support to the Iraqi government in confronting terror groups that are active worldwide, like Zarqawi’s group, al-Qaeda and others,” said Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hamed al-Bayati. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP
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