Category Archives: Terrorism

Explosions in London, suspected terror attacks

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Many people were hurt today in a “major incident” on London transport as suspected terrorist attacks caused multiple explosions on tube trains and buses and plunged London’s transport network into chaos.

There’s still a lot of confusion, and little information.
The Guardian Newsblog and Europhobia are liveblogging.

British Transport police initially said power surges had caused explosions, but now people say it’s likely terrorism.

Officials shut down the whole of the London Underground system and cancelled all central London bus services as they tried to comprehend the scale of the disaster. All London hospitals are on major incident alert.

An explosion ripped apart a double-decker bus near Russell Square. Union officials said they had received reports of two more bus explosions, but details were not immediately available.

Laura Matthews, a press officer at Universities UK, which has offices in Tavistock Square, said there were bodies lying around the bus explosion, some of them without arms or legs. “Get people down here quickly,” she sobbed. She thought a bomb had gone off and was trying to evacuate her office.

There were unconfirmed reports that a number of people on the bus had died

London explosions ‘mirror Madrid bombings’ says terror experts, but at this early stage, I’m sceptical anyone really knows what they’re talking about.

16 Al Qaeda Arrests in Spain

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This news needs careful watching:

Spanish police arrested 16 suspected Islamist militants on Wednesday, including followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and men preparing to become suicide bombers in Iraq, the Interior Ministry said. t was the second European swoop in two days against suspected backers of the Iraqi insurgency, following Germany’s arrest of three Iraqis on Tuesday.

Eleven of the suspects in Spain were followers of Zarqawi, al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, the Interior Ministry said.

“Many of them expressed their will to become martyrs for Islam, demonstrating they are extremely radical and dangerous,” the ministry said in a statement.

Assuming that this information is well founded (that they are followers of Zarqawi , and they are potential suicide terrorists – we do in the end need a judge to confirm this) the situation is preoccupying. This article doesn’t have the story entirely straight, according to the TV news the people arrested are mainly logistical in the sense that they are fund-raisers and recruiters who send potential suicide bombers to Zarqawi in Iraq. In addition some of the people seem to have been part of the 11 March network.

This news will suit the propaganda angle of neither of the main political parties here in Spain (PP and PSOE). PP are still in denial over the importance of 11 March, and principally occupy themselves with trying to find an Eta connection, whilst the PSOE had placed some hope on the idea that a withdrawal of the troops from Iraq would get Spain out of the middle of something. For geographical and historic reasons this is likely to prove impossible.

Car Bomb In Madrid

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“A car bomb exploded in the Spanish capital on Wednesday, injuring three people, 45 minutes after a Basque newspaper received a warning in the name of Basque separatist group ETA, police said.”
Reuters One Hour Ago

Thankfully no-one was killed. On this occassion there seems little doubt who was responsible. This bombing follows recent controversial moves by Spanish president Zapatero to open a peace process. At the time of writing the linked post I was optimistic. Despite what has happened today I remain so. Eta is not to be trusted, and it is important to keep this in mind all the time. My ‘off the top of my head’ analysis: negotiations about the conditions for holding negotiations are in process, both sides are trying to exert pressure, the Spanish government is demanding a permanent truce from Eta, Eta is demanding a concentration of prisoners in the Basque region, and so things continue.

Spain: Is An End To Eta Imminent?

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“The insurgents in Iraq are very violent, but you defeat them not just through military effort,” Ms. Rice told reporters traveling with her on Sunday. “You defeat them by having a political alternative that is strong.” Now, she added, Iraqi leaders are “going to have to intensify their efforts to demonstrate that in fact the political process is the answer for the Iraqi people.”

These words from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which are extremely welcome as the daily death toll in Iraq only continues to emphasise the need to break the spiral, also has a resonance somewhere nearer home: in Spain, where tomorrow the Spanish parliament are to debate a motion which may be a major step in bring the epoch of ETA inspired violence to an end.

But not everyone is happy.
Continue reading →

Whew

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Earlier this month, we noted that the end of the Orthodox mourning period for the victims in Beslan might bring rapid reprisals for the attack. Hasn’t happened.

This is not to say that there won’t ever be reprisals, just that the worst fears have proved unfounded. And frankly, the North Caucasus can use all the good news it can get.

Keep an Eye on the North Caucasus

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The forty-day period of mourning traditionally observed there is coming to an end for the families of people killed in Beslan. When I was in Russia (far, far from the scene of the crime, I hasten to add), I heard numerous predictions that revenge would be taken shortly after the mourning period ended. That’d be soon.

Peter Baker’s story in the Washington Post is very good.

Beslan, Pt. 2

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Beslan looks to shake Russia in a way that the Nord-Ost siege did not, in a way that the subway and concert and bus stop bombings did not, and in a way that the plane bombings would not have. But before I speculate on any of those things, I want to lay down a marker, a basic point of reference, one that is completely expected but ought to be said anyway.

Targeting a school for an attack is vile. It is more vile than attacking a whole population center, knowing that schools will fall under attack as well. It is worse than random terror, worse than anything else that the Chechens have done, and worse than anything that I can recall that al-Qaeda has done or been accused of.

Certainly there is no shortage of atrocities in this world, but specifically targeting children warrants a special place in the inferno.

Beslan, Pt. 1

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Just got back from a week in Russia, which was interesting timing indeed. A bomb at the Riga train station the day I arrived. The battle and massacre in Beslan just days before I left.

I’ll have more to say tomorrow, but I wanted to ask if anyone among our readers can find a link to the front page of this Sunday’s Izvestiya (September 5). It was a full-page photograph of a man carrying an injured or dead girl from the wreckage of the school. A beautiful, heartbreaking photo, a modern piet? as sorrowful as anything the Renaissance gave us.

It also got the paper’s editor-in-chief fired by the Kremlin.

Update: Many thanks to reader Michael S. who pointed me to the paper’s pdf archive. The picture is here, and the rest of the day’s powerful edition is here. Don’t miss page 12.