Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Terrorist Attacks Rock London - Simultaneous blasts in buses and subways leave at least 45 dead over 1000 injured Terrorist Attacks Rock London - Simultaneous blasts in buses and subways leave at least 45 dead over 1000 injuredSimultaneous attacks hit rush hour passengers - London transit shut down
Explosion: a wrecked bus after the blast
July 2005 Twelve killed in London blasts, scores wounded LONDON (Reuters) - A series of blasts that rocked London on Thursday killed at least 12 people and wounded scores, police and hospital officials and witnesses said. CNN television said at least 10 people were killed in an explosion at King's Cross station. It said one of its producers at the scene had been told of "double-digit fatalities". Police said two people were killed in an explosion at the Aldgate East underground station. A doctor at the station said at least 90 people were wounded in the blast. The Royal London Hospital in the east of the capital said 95 people were being treated, seven of them in a critical condition and 10 serious. It was not clear how many of them had been brought in from Aldgate. St. Mary's Hospital in west London said 80 wounded had been brought in, four of them critical and nine serious. Officials said the casualties were believed to have come from a blast at Edgware Road underground station in East London. Other hospitals said they had received wounded but declined to give numbers. A spokesman for the ambulance service said there had been at least seven attacks. --------------------------------------------------
BLAIR: A BARBARIC ATTACK SHOCKED Tony Blair today condemned the "particularly barbaric" terrorist bomb blasts that left many feared dead in London. The Prime Minister, at the G8 summit at Gleneagles, said there were a number of casualties and fatalities and said it was "reasonably clear" that terrorists were behind the atrocity. His voice trembling with emotion Mr Blair vowed the terrorists, with the attacks having all the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda, would "never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country." ANGER: PM Tony Blair called the attacks "particularly barbaric" Mr Blair said he would leave the summit in Scotland to return to London to be briefed on events. The summit will continue as G8 leaders issued a statement of support to the country. The Premier said: "It is particularly barbaric that this has happened on a day when people are meeting to try to help the problems of poverty in Africa, the long-term problems of climate change and the environment." He added that it was clear the attacks were "designed and aimed to coincide with the opening of the G8". Mr Blair told reporters: "It is reasonably clear that there have been a series of terrorist attacks in London. "There are obviously casualties, both people that have died and people seriously injured. And our thoughts and prayers of course are with the victims and their families. "It is my intention to leave the G8 within the next couple of hours and go down to London and get a report face-to-face with the police and the emergency services and the ministers who have been dealing with this and then to return later this evening." "It is the will of all the leaders of the G8 however that the meeting should continue in my absence, that we should continue to discuss the issues that we were going to discuss and reach the conclusions that we were going to reach." Mr Blair went on: "Each of the countries around that table has some experience of the effects of terrorism, and all the leaders, as they will indicate a little bit later, share our complete resolution to defeat this terrorism." "Just as it is reasonably clear that this is a terrorist attack or a series of terrorist attacks it is also reasonably clear that it is designed and aimed to coincide with the opening of the G8. "There will be time to talk later about this. It is important however 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 to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world." Mr Blair concluded: "Whatever they do it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilised nations throughout the world." Before travelling back to London to chair a meeting of emergerncy committee COBRA Mr Blair read out a joint statement from the leaders of the G8 and other countries represented at Gleneagles. With all 12 other leaders standing behind him Mr Blair said from a podium: "We condemn utterly these barbaric attacks. We send our profound condolences to the victims and their families. All of our countries have suffered from the impact of terrorism. "Those responsible have no respect for human life. We are united in our resolve to confront and defeat this terrorism that is not an attack on one nation but on all nations and on civilized people everywhere. "We will not allow violence to change our societies or our values, nor will we allow it to stop the work of this summit. We will continue our deliberations in the interests of a better world. Here at this summit, the world's leaders are striving to combat world poverty and save and improve human life. "The perpetrators of today's attacks are intent on destroying human life. The terrorists will not succeed. "Today's bombings will not weaken in any way our resolve to uphold the most deeply held principles of our societies and to defeat those who would impose their fanaticism and extremism on all of us. We shall prevail and they shall not." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0707/dailyUpdate2.html Explosions rock London underground and busesAt least two are dead in what British PM Tony Blair called 'a series of terorist attacks.' By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com An Islamist website posted an announcement, apparently coming from Al Qaeda, that took credit for the explosions. Sky News reports that a previously unknown group calling itself "Secret Organization: Al Qaeda in Europe" took credit for the blasts, saying they were in revenge for British "military massacres" in Iraq and Afghanistan. The group also warned Italy and Denmark to withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Scotland Yard has also denied a report that it was warned of the attacks by Israel a few minutes before they happened. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been scheduled to give a speech to an Israeli corporate investment conference in London, but Ha'aretz reports that he has been told to stay in his hotel by the Israeli government. The Guardian is running a minute-by-minute blog about the explosions and their aftermath. Also a Wikipedia entry about the incident has been started. Mr. Blair said he was flying back from the G-8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, to talk "face-to-face" with the police and members of his cabinet who are coordinating the response to the attacks. Blair said the terrorists behind the attack had to realize that they would not succeed in undermining British values. 'It is important that those engaged in terrorism realize that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world,' he said. The Guardian reports that one of Britain's leading terrorism experts says that the explosions look like "an attempt to recreate the Madrid bombings and would have been planned for months ..." Michael Clarke, director of the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London, said six bombs would mean at least 24 people involved in planting them in a targeted operation. The fact that London had been hit when the resources of the security forces were focused on the G8 summit at Gleneagles indicated some clever thinking by terrorists. Clark also said that the possibility of further explosions today cannot be ruled out, and that the attacks point out the problems that the British police will have in providing security for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games, which Britain won the right to host on Wednesday. MSNBC reports that White House spokesman Scott McClelland said President George Bush had been briefed on the incident. A secret service agent said that Bush's presence in Scotland meant that US officials were monitoring the situation, but that the investigation was being completely handled by British authorities. Meanwhile, BBC Monitoring reports that Col. Leszek Drewniak told the Polish news agency PAP that the attacks might be connected to Britain's presence in Iraq, and for that reason, Poland also had to be vigilant. 'That is why there is a real threat to other participants in the mission, including Poland," Drewniak told PAP on Thursday. The Economist points out, however, despite "strong anti-terror powers and ... among the world's best contingency plans for coping with such serious incidents," that in a city the size of London, it's almost impossible to "prevent determined bombers bringing explosive devices on to trains and buses, and no amount of planning or security measures will eliminate such a risk entirely."
'Revenge for Afghanistan and Iraq' - Al-Qa'ida
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