London 'incidents'

[Hildegard]

Tube cleared after minor blasts

 

 

Minor explosions using detonators only have sparked the evacuation of three Tube stations and the closure of three lines, a BBC correspondent has said.

Police cordoned off large areas around Warren Street, Oval and one of the Shepherd's Bush Tube stations.

 

A route 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green had its windows blown out by a blast. There were no injuries.

 

Police in London say they are not treating the situation as "a major incident yet".

 

One person was injured at Warren Street. There were reports the injured person may have been holding a rucksack containing the detonator.

 

Police said armed officers had been deployed to University College Hospital after an incident.

 

The whole of the Northern Line has been suspended, along with the Victoria Line and the Hammersmith and City line.

 

A number of other stations were closed including Westminster tube station, Waterloo station and King's Cross Thameslink. There were also reports that St Paul's tube and Oxford Circus tube station were closed.

 

Tony Blair cancelled events in the afternoon and will be attending a meeting of the Cobra committee along with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

 

The BBC's Andrew Winstanley said devices had been found but appeared to have been dummies, containing no explosives.

 

London Underground went to an amber alert with trains taken to the next station and evacuated.

 

An eyewitness at Oval station said there had been a small bang, and a man had then run off when the Tube reached the station.

 

 

Police have set up cordons round the stations

 

A spokesman for Stagecoach said the driver of the number 26 bus travelling through Shoreditch had heard a bang on upper deck, gone upstairs and seen the windows were blown out.

 

The bus driver was very shaken but said to be fine.

 

At Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line station, police told reporters that a man had threatened to blow himself up and then ran off.

 

Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street.

 

"I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning.

 

"Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking."

 

The BBC's Rory Barnett said there had been no smoke on the platform at Warren St.

 

Liz Edwards, who works near Warren Street Underground station, said the area was full of activity.

 

"There are police, fire engines and ambulances all around there. A guy from our office had just come back from the station and said the police were aggressively keeping people away from the station and that you could not get anywhere near it."

[SteveThaiBinh]

Dummy bombs, they're saying - detonators only, no explosives. No casualties. Either there were no explosives attached or the explosives failed to go off.

 

A lucky escape, let's hope.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Sounds more like a bunch of nutters with homemade fireworks to me. A detonator isnt usually strong enough to blow out the windows on a bus(unless youre trying to set of a whole ton of ammonium nitrate or similar)

[EnderAndrew]

:angry:

[Darkside]

Sounds more like a bunch of nutters with homemade fireworks to me. A detonator isnt usually strong enough to blow out the windows on a bus(unless youre trying to set of a whole ton of ammonium nitrate or similar)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Agreed. Psychos. :angry:

[Walsingham]

There are a lot of conflicting reports emerging at the moment. Frankly I hope we do't get to hear what went wrong with the bombs. If we know, it means the cell concerned can get it right next time. A la the Argentine bomb fuses during the Falklands.

[Musopticon?]

Not again. Damn fools.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Its highly unlikely that this is the work of an Al-Quaida related group. They never attack the same target twice and never within such a short space of time between. No, everything indicates that this is the handywork of a bunch of incompetent(and probably brittish) nutters trying to get attention.

[Walsingham]

Its highly unlikely that this is the work of an Al-Quaida related group. They never attack the same target twice and never within such a short space of time between. No, everything indicates that this is the handywork of a bunch of incompetent(and probably brittish) nutters trying to get attention.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I don't think you're way off base. But you aren't entirely accurate.

 

Yes this wasn't conducted with Al Qaeda support like the last one. But it was intended to marry up with their campaigns, and support the same objectives. The simplistic planning, and faulty technical know-how just reveals how over-keen and underskilled they were, not who they were doing it for. Frankly I'm glad they went off half-****ed like this. This way we can get the people, and they have hurt fewer people. Hoping the person injured is OK.

[SteveThaiBinh]

We still know almost nothing about these new attacks for sure. Commentators on the radio were noting that it's strange that they managed to detonate their devices simultaneously (which apparently requires good planning and co-ordination), but the devices failed (which suggests a bunch of amateurs).

[Kaftan Barlast]

Simultaneously means within a 5-10 min interval here, easily accomplishable using synchronized watches or text messages. And I understand that no explosives apart from the detonators(firecrackers) have been found.

 

 

I agree with Walsingham that the culprits are probably a bunch of young supporters of radical Islamism doing it to spook people. It could also be the usual nutters vying for attention or some daft motive like fueling anti-islamic sentiments.

[Walsingham]

Kaftan is bang on about the technical issue of simultaneity. The hard part is the social engineering required to get the bombs in place.

[Atreides]

News is reporting that the detonators were indeed intended to set off explosives which didn't go off. London's very lucky. However, in these cases I wish we didn't have to depend on luck.

[Calax]

You should know, there is no luck, only the force.

[Hildegard]

News is reporting that the detonators were indeed intended to set off explosives which didn't go off.  London's very lucky.  However, in these cases I wish we didn't have to depend on luck.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Excatly, you have to be 'lucky' all the time, they have to be 'lucky' just once.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

These bombings will only stop when their targets are dead. I speak, of course, of JK Rowling.

[Walsingham]

These bombings will only stop when their targets are dead. I speak, of course, of JK Rowling.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Of course! It makes sense....

 

 

Seriously, though. More chaps out and about today. Like gleeful homicidal elves tehy have been throwing themselves at trains and so on.

 

One man shot dead after being chased by armed police. It's not clear if he was a bomber. Can I just remind you boys and girls that if the men in blue with the guns shout 'stop', it's not some wonderful light-hearted game, and you probably ought to do what they say?

[SteveThaiBinh]

One eye-witness said the police were in plain clothes, not that it matters much. Seems he was wearing a 'bomb belt', whatever that is, so probably a suicide bomber. In Israel/Palestine, suicide bombers tend to blow themselves up when challenged by the police or soldier. I wonder why this one didn't.

[Hildegard]

These bombings will only stop when their targets are dead. I speak, of course, of JK Rowling.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Can I just remind you boys and girls that if the men in blue with the guns shout 'stop', it's not some wonderful light-hearted game, and you probably ought to do what they say?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If you had such a real-life experience, you would know it's not that easy and obvious for an individual to know what to do in such a situation when you're scared, your body and mind go in 'survival' mode, your adrenalin is pumping so much that it represses your ability to think and act rationally.

When the men in blue were shouting 'stop' at me, I know I didn't listened to them and I'm damn glad I didn't, maybe I was foolish, maybe just lucky unlike the man in London today, but I know the only thing that saved me were my feet and speed.

But then again Walsingham you're right, you boys and girls listen to the men in blue

[Kaftan Barlast]

Given the bombing fiasco yesterday, its quite safe to asume that these were not trained terrorists so the mans behaviour is understandable. You should also consider, contrary to popular belief, most suicide bombers carry remote controlled charges in case their "faith" should sway in the last minute.

[Walsingham]

Fair point, there Hildegarde. It is hard to think clearly in any kind of crisis, but not everyone loses the capacity to be rational. You may even find if it happens to you again you are perfectly fine. Coversely you can be fine on one occasion, then the next time it happens your mind goes kablooey.

 

One way to cope with such things is to get it straight in your head before you start. Hence me advising people now to just do what they say. Don't forget the poor coppers are having a hard time staying calm if they think you're about to explode. So playing nice is conducive all round.

 

I'm glad the guy turned out to be a bomber, though. My worry was that he could just be some random schizophrenic who got killed because he believed the cops were controlled by Martians or something. I'm not an advocate of killing terrorists for the hell of it, but a dead innocent would be worse. ..

[Darth Flatus]

People have to understand that Brit cops are not trigger happy, most of them dont even carry guns. The guy jumped a ticket barrier - so at the very least he was a fare dodger.

[Hildegard]

Fair point, there Hildegarde. It is hard to think clearly in any kind of crisis, but not everyone loses the capacity to be rational. You may even find if it happens to you again you are perfectly fine. Coversely you can be fine on one occasion, then the next time it happens your mind goes kablooey.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Maybe I won't lose the ability to be rational 'next time' but I really hope I won't get a chance to prove that.

 

I'm glad the guy turned out to be a bomber, though. My worry was that he could just be some random schizophrenic who got killed because he believed the cops were controlled by Martians or something. I'm not an advocate of killing terrorists for the hell of it, but a dead innocent would be worse. ..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Police had every right to shot in that situation whoever that man was, I know I would without hesitation.....but then again you can always ban muslims and asians from wearing backpacks and 'strange' coats "

[Darth Flatus]

Appearancewise the only thing that should be banned is the ninja style veils. Totally suspicious...

[Walsingham]

I am not having a load of nekkid asian-looking guys on my tube train! What if they start dancing?

 

 

EDIT: Why can't I stop laughing about this?