07-07-05, 15:12
|
|
|
BBC News UK
Here is a news article from BBC UK ... and the link to their website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3533099.stm
Quote:
London rocked by terror attacks
Firefighters at Aldgate Tube station
TV coverage
At least two people have been killed and scores injured after three blasts on the Underground network and another on a double-decker bus in London.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was "reasonably clear" there had been a series of terrorist attacks.
He said it was "particularly barbaric" that it was timed to coincide with the G8 summit. He is returning to London.
An Islamist website has posted a statement - purportedly from al-Qaeda - claiming it was behind the attacks.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke said blasts occurred between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street tube stations; between Russell Square and King's Cross tube stations; at Edgware Road tube station; and on a bus at Tavistock Square.
The Queen said she was "deeply shocked" and sent her sympathy to those affected.
Paul Woodrow, of the London Ambulance Service, is in Russell Square near the bus which exploded.
"At King's Cross station there is a rescue operation in the tunnel down on the line," he said.
"Although we cannot confirm casualties - it is too early - we are dealing with large numbers of casualties."
London's police chief Sir Ian Blair said in all the attacks there had been "many casualties" but it was too early to give a precise figure.
It's particularly barbaric that this has happened on a day when people are meeting to try to help the problems of poverty and Africa
Tony Blair
Blair statement in full
More than 182 casualties and one of the dead were taken to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, but 123 people have since been released.
The city's St Mary's Hospital said it was dealing with 26 injured people, including four with critical injuries and eight in a serious condition.
Sir Ian urged people to stay where they were and not to call emergency services unless it was a life-threatening situation.
He reassured the public that an emergency plan was in place and the situation was "steadily coming under control".
London Mayor Ken Livingstone, speaking from Singapore before flying back to the UK, said Londoners would not be divided by a "cowardly attack".
He said it was an "indiscriminate" attempt at slaughter with no consideration for age or religion.
Blasts occurred:
Between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street tube stations
Between Russell Square and King's Cross tube stations
At Edgware Road tube station
On bus at Tavistock Square
All London Underground services have been suspended indefinitely and bus services in central London (Zone One) have been halted.
Early reports had suggested a power surge could be to blame for explosions on the Underground but this was later discounted.
Describing the bus blast in Tavistock Square, witness Belinda Seabrook said she saw an explosion rip through the vehicle.
"I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double-decker bus was in the air," she said.
She said the bus had been travelling from Euston to Russell Square and was "packed" with people turned away from Tube stops.
There was immediately smoke everywhere and it was hot and everybody panicked. People started screaming and crying
Jacqui Head
BBC News
Bus 'ripped apart' in explosion
Have you been affected?
Terror of stranded passengers
"It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air. I think it was the number 205," she said.
One caller to BBC Five said his friend had seen "the bus ripped open like a can of sardines".
|
|