More Bomb attempts in London
The Wikipedia entry is already a useful starting place. One caution: UK authorities are denying the rumors of chemicals and say these were small conventional bombs.
Around noon EST on Thursday I live-blogged the press conference by London officials:
Sir Ian Blair says there are four scenes. At each of these scenes attempts have been made to set off these explosives. He is cautioning against jumping to conclusions about responsibility. Mayor Ken Livinstone says that the system is largely back up and running. He says it is not remarkable that there has been another attempt so soon after the previous one. He reminded viewers that the IRA used to do bombings only weeks apart. Urges “religious congregations” (obviously he means mosques) to explore the immorality of these events and urge anyone with information to come foreward.
Sir Ian is saying that the intention of the terrorists must have been to kill. Their intention has not been fulfilled.
He said that some of the devices appear to have remained unexploded. But forensics will take a while to tell.
It is not clear how many persons may have taken part or the exact timing.
Is asked about nail bombs. Sir Ian refuses to confirm or deny.
Mayor Livingston is asked about implementing better security in the Underground. He replies that airport-style security is impractical in the London tube.
Asked about the possibility of al-Qaeda involvement, he said that it was too soon to discuss but that the m.o. was similar.
Sir Ian says the ambulance teams took no casualties from the scene. If there is an injury it would be self-reported.
Terrorists made another attempt to bomb the London Undgerground and a bus on Thursday. This attempt, however, was anything but professional. At least some of the three bombs left on the subway trains did not detonate “properly”. (At least one seems to have gone off at a platform somehow.) Or maybe they were just very small bombs. The backpack bomb left on a bus did go off. One person was injured. The British police are exploring whether this was a copycat attack by amateurs, or in some way directly linked to the Leeds cell that carried out July 7.
Some of the tube lines are closed. Many Londoners soldier on, traveling by public transport, but a mood of weariness has settled on others, according to CNN. Some areas of the capital are stricken with traffic dreadlock, but around the affected train stations the streets are empty.
‘ “We can’t minimize incidents such as this,” Blair said during a news conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister John Howard. “They’re done it to scare people, to frighten them and make them worried.”
One injury was reported in the Thursday attacks.
Blair said the police and security services were “fairly clear” on what happened and what the next steps were, and it was “important to respond by keeping to our normal lives.”
He said it was too early to speculate on who might be responsible for the attacks. ‘
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