A recurring theme in all the commentary of the attacks is the stoicism, composure and defiance of Londoners. And rightly so. You should feel proud of yourselves today.
Category Archives: Terrorism
Blair Points The Finger
Tony Blair tonight indicated that in his opinion the bombings were the work of Islamic radicals. I – and I suppose most other people – had reached a somewhat similar conclusion, but since Tony has access to police and forensic material, his opinion may be worth a bit more than mine is. This would seem to give rather more credence to this earlier report. Whilst London’s Olympic victory does form a backdrop, the fact it was a surprise result makes it unlikely to have been a prime mover for the attack. It is hard to imagine an operation which was this complicated being set-up just on the off-chance. The G8 obviously seems to form a much bigger part of the picture. And I had forgotten entirely about this, until reading Juan Cole woke me up to the possible connection. The trial started on Tuesday.
Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has appeared in court at the start of his trial on terrorism charges. The 47-year-old, who denies any involvement in terrorism, has been held at Belmarsh prison since May 2004.
Butt-Out Putin
Vladimir Putin is a guest on UK soil today as a participant in the G8 summit, in which case he should behave like a guest, respect and follow the local customs, and refrain from trying to use this tragedy to push his own political agenda.
“But what happened today demonstrates yet again that we are doing too little to unite our efforts in the most effective way in the battle against terrorism,” he said.
He also called for an end to double standards ? an appeal he has made before to his fellow world leaders, some of whom he has criticized for underestimating the terrorist ties of Chechen separatist rebels.
Putin expressed “not only hope but also certainty” that the international community will do everything it can to confront terrorism, but stressed there must not be “any double standards whatsoever in assessing bloody crimes similar to those carried out today in London.”
There are many things which could be said about what has happened in London today, but the above is not one of them. Let me be (given my own views and values) terribly politically incorrect: as Condoleeza Rice said, “we have to get it right every day, they only have to get it right once”. Maybe there were questions about whether or not the US was sufficiently prepared for ‘new style’ international terrorism before 09/11, certainly there are such questions about Spain and 03/11, but is anyone seriously suggesting that the UK police and security services haven’t been totally focused on trying to prevent this kind of tragedy. So, number one I resent the insinuation, and number two I resent any attempt to use this to drag the UK into the scandalous war Putin has been waging in Chechenia.
The dead are not only not yet cold, they are not even counted. Again chosing a voice I would not normally identify with, I can only re-iterate this point from Tim Worstall:
“May I just remind you of one of those little rules that we have in our civilised society? We bury the dead and console the bereaved before we start making asinine political points.”
Bus Bomb May Have Been Intended For Tube
Brian Paddick, assistant deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police has just explained to a press conference that the bomb which exploded on a London bus in Woburn place may have gone off early.
“British police said a bomb that blew the roof off a London double-decker bus on Thursday morning may have been destined for the capital’s underground network, which was rocked by three explosions earlier.
“The fourth bomb may have been intended for an underground train,” Brian Paddick, the assistant deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police told a press conference.
The bus blast occurred about an hour after the first underground explosion. At least 33 people were confirmed dead from the blasts in the capital. ”
I’m not *sure* what we can deduce from this conjecture on the part of a senior police officer, although lots of possibilities are flying round my head.
London Update V
As the dust settles, more and more of the details become clearer. The BBC have a good summary of three tube station bombs and the bus bomb (thanks for link to perfect.co.uk). The three tube bombings were on the Picadilly line between Kings Cross and Russell Square, at Edgware Road station, and in a tunnel at 100 metres from Liverpool Street. The bus was in Woburn Place.
The Independent also has a good summary, as does the Financial Times.
Updated 16:15 UK time
Interestingly one of the ‘strange ingredients’ has just been explained: the sudden power surge story. Neil McIntosh at Guardian blog gives the story behind the facts from London Tube boss Tim O’Toole:
Tube boss Tim O’Toole says the sudden succession of blasts caused the earlier “power surge” rumours – the tube control room thought that was the only thing that could cause such a co-ordinated set of failures across the network. In fact, the tube’s power supply is intact – they could run a full service now, although that’s not likely to happen for some time yet. He also says he’s enormously proud of his staff, who “did a difficult job and did it well”.
Update IV
Update (16:35 CET):
London’s mobile phone network is overloaded and spotty. The police is asking people not to call unless it’s important.
Two U.S. law enforcement officials said at least 40 people were killed and London hospitals reported more than 350 wounded. A senior police official confirmed at least 33 deaths killed in the subway blasts.
[...]
“This is clearly an al-Qaida style attack. It was well-coordinated, it was timed for a political event and it was a multiple attack on a transportation system at rush hour,” said Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies at King’s College in London.
Update: The most current death toll number appears to be 45 (Guardian.) I predict it will steadily rise for some days, and then steadily fall for some weeks. The final number is unknowable, but that very, very many are injured appears fairly certain.
Update: From Wikipedia:
HOTLINE NUMBERS:
* Metropolitan Police: 020 7766 6020 (UK) +44 20 7766 6020 (INT’L)
* British Transport Police: 020 8358 0101 (UK) +44 (0) 20 8358 0101 (INT’L)
Don’t call the emergency services unless in “Life threatening” circumstances.
The Metropolitan Police advises against all unnecessary travel within the Capitol.
Original entry:
Guardian Newsblog:
Suddenly, the terrible scale of today’s attack becomes clear. Ambulance sources, reported on Sky, suggest 23 people have been killed at King’s Cross, nine at Edgware road, seven at Aldgate, two at Russell Square. There are hundreds – possibly more than a thousand – injured. We’re trying to verify the numbers.
The numbers 45 (Guardian) and 44 (Sky) have also been bandied about. No numbers are solid at all.
Daniel Johnson in email to Europhobia ( a while ago):
However there does seem to be a bit of a paradoxical thing happening. The broadcasters are holding back – reluctant to report news and instead focusing on reporting on the good work of the emergency services (from eye witness accounts and personally talking to people on the phone, the services are doing a great job and we should be incredibly proud). So they’re very calm- but the public is spinning the rumour mill.. before long I’m sure we’ll get IRA rumours, G8 rebels, etc- we should take comfort in the fact that the leaders of the free world are all together in a room, our emergency services are doing an amazing job – and the majority of scare-mongering rumours appear to be just that.
Its good to be sceptical of rumors, and not spread hysteria.
Nosemonkey said at 13:01 “God, us Brits are great. Hardly any panic – more just getting pissed off that it’s going to be a bugger getting home. I love this country sometimes.”
Livebloggng
Other blogs covering this live:
Europhobia
Tim Worstall
Perfect
Bloggerheads
Normblog
Yorkshire Ranter
I’ll add more as I find them
London Update III
The jihadist website should of course not be taken at face value. They may well be full of it. I would be surprised if jsome jihadists aren’t responsible though.
There’s a Wikipedia entry on the bombings. They are generally very useful with these sort of events, distilling, summarizing all relevant info.
London Update II
Der Spiegel is reporting that a group of radical islamists is claiming responsibility:
A group calling itself “Secret Organization ? al-Qaida in Europe” has posted a claim of responsibility for the series of blasts in London, a German magazine reported Thursday.
Der Spiegel magazine reported that the group posted its message on a Web site popular with Islamic militants, which it did not name. It said the group claimed the explosions were in retaliation for Britain’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Update (by Nick at 1pm): Just to let folks know that myself and Matt Turner are fine, and it seems so far that various London bloggers have avoided being caught up in it. Until last week, I had to travel through Liverpool Street station on a regular basis, and Matt normally passes through Edgware Road station every day.
Update 14:15 UK time.
Associated Press Cairo office continue the story, elaborating a bit more. The caim contains details worthy of note insofar as it mentions Iraq *and* Afghanistan (Qaeda and Taliban activity seems to have been increasing of late) and secondly it directly threatens Denmark and Italy. The second source citing this may be more significant than Der Spiegel since it is Elaph, a secular Arab-language news website. Elaph suggests that the site were the claim was posted is one typically used by islamic militants. Of course this confirms nothing. It is simply one possible lead, the only one we have to date.
London Update
Just following on from David, there is in fact a lot of blog activity. Tim Worstall is live blogging. John – shot from both sides - had to walk to work, Alex, the Yorskshire ranter can see things from his office window, Perfect.co.uk is also following things closely etc, etc.
As I said in comments, there seem to have been six bombs, five in tube stations and one on a bus. The Police are saying that incidents were reported at the Aldgate station near the Liverpool Street railway terminal, Edgware Road and King’s Cross in north London, Old Street in the financial district, Tavistock Square, and the bus in Russell Square in central London, near the British Museum.
Blair has said he is going down to London in the afternoon, but that the Gleneagles meeting will continue. The atmosphere will obviously be one of solidarity. This is aimed at the UK, but it is also a symbolic message to the entire G8.
There is no serious speculation yet about who this might be. This piece by Reuter’s security correspondant Mark Trevelyan is a reasonable rundown on the things which immediately appear to stand out.
Financial markets have, understandably, taken it badly, although I don’t imagine this will prove to be long lasting.
The UK authorities are understandably being very careful about handling information about casualties. They don’t want panic, and they don’t want useless speculation.
They also want to be able to inform as many next of kin as possible before releasing data, which I think is admirable.
The total number of dead, mercifully, may not be very large. There are though a considerable number of very seriously wounded.
Updated 13:00 UK time
Neil Mackintosh at the Guardian Blog reports that:
“A packed House of Commons is hearing a statement from Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary. He expresses sympathy to friends and family of those who had died, and says four explosions are confirmed. One on a tube train between Aldgate and Liverpool Street, one on a bus, one in the tube at King?s Cross. Tube.
The underground will remain closed for today at least. There are no buses operating in central London, with decision to reopen to be made later today. People are strongly advised not to travel into central London, with many mainline train companies cancelling services or terminating before the capital.”
Updated 13:30 UK Time
The number of actual explosions seems to have been confirmed at 4. This does not mean there were no more devices which did not go off.
Britain’s Home Secretary Charles Clarke said there were three explosions in the subway and one on a bus. “We do not know who or what organizations are responsible for these terrible criminal acts,” Clarke said.
A summary of the impact of the explosions can be found here.