The IRA, al-Qaeda, anti-G8 or the French Olympic bid team?

July 7, 2005 by
Filed under: Uncategorized 

It’s still unclear how many are dead and injured, but from what I can make out from all the different news sources there were three bombs on the Tube and one on a bus during this morning’s rush hour:

Blasts
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

[BBC] [BBC "In Depth" site] [Wikinews] [Chronology] [] [images]

Apparently the mobile phone network was closed down almost immediately, in an effort to defeat the terrorists – no communication / remote triggering.

Dubya is on TV waffling on about his “folks in Homeland Security” and defeating the AIDS pandemic – what?? Oh, and he crashed his bicycle into a policeman. Nice going George!

Official update on BBC TV: fatalities so far = 7 @ Aldgate/Liverpool St; 21 @ Russell Square; 5 @ Edgeware Road; unconfirmed number on bus @ Woburn Square. (Not the “120″+” reported by “an anonymous American official”!)

Superintendent Brian Paddick of Metropolitain Police:

  • 8:51 there was an incident around Moorgate/Liverpool St./Aldgate East – one confirmed explosion. The train involved is either Central or Circle line. 7 confirmed fatalities.
  • 8:56 Kings X/Russell Square. 21 confirmed fatalities.
  • 9:17 An explosion on a train entering Edgeware Rd. which also blew through the tunnel and involved two other trains. 5 fatalities so far.
  • 9:47 An explosion on a bus at Upper Woburn Square/Tavistock Place. Fatalities in that incident are not confirmed but there have been some.
  • At least 33 fatalities are thus confirmed.

(The press conference continues) Someone just asked about a police sniper shooting a suicide bomber Canary Wharf. Response was no reports about such an incident.

Blair’s speech makes it sound like he believes it was al-Qaeda (or some faction thereof) who carried out the attack.

Is it wrong that every time the TV commentators talk about an attack was inevitable, I keep thinking of Kim Jong-Il in Team America: World Police?

1315EDT: Update – 2 confirmed fatalities on the bus. (The bus exploded outside the Britsh Medical Association office, so they had lots of immediate medical attention.)

BBC: “Bomb disposal experts have carried out controlled explosions in Edinburgh after suspect packages were found on board a bus and outside a shop.”

Bloomberg.com: “London suffered its deadliest attack since World War II as terrorists set off four bombs in the city’s subway system and on a bus during the morning rush hour, killing at least 37 people and injuring about 700.”

Tags: , ,

Comments

5 Comments on The IRA, al-Qaeda, anti-G8 or the French Olympic bid team?

  1. hilts on Thu, 7th Jul 2005 5:18 pm

    2. Everyone you know in the clear?

  2. henman on Thu, 7th Jul 2005 5:35 pm

    3. Thankfully, yes; I saw yours is OK too; I’m guessing your policeman friend is kinda busy.

  3. themonkeymafia on Fri, 8th Jul 2005 2:07 am

    4. This may sound cold … But I don’t quite understand why it’s getting *so* much media coverage … The brits have had almost 40 years of this sort of thing with the IRA.

    Sure it’s a bad thing to happen … But does it need all the media attention?

    *shrug*

  4. henman on Fri, 8th Jul 2005 2:14 am

    5. Yep, we’ve had many years of Irish terrorists murdering British civilians, but we’ve also had a few “quiet” years.

    It’s also the “deadliest” attack (largest # victims) on mainland soil since WWII.

    But I tend to agree with you – how many times can they re-show the same clips and re-hash the same reports? And don’t get me started on the “experts” they interview so they can spout their pet theories.

    It’s news, but it’s not the only news – Dubya’s bike accident with a policeman barely gets a mention! :)

  5. themonkeymafia on Fri, 8th Jul 2005 4:50 am

    6. actually … it’s #2 … Lockerbie is #1 on mainland soil … ‘tho it’s the largest in London since WW2 (so says wikipedia at least — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings#Casualties )

    ‘tho the IRA have been quiet for a while now … ’96 I think was the last big bomb? but they’d certainly been busy prior to then

    As for the bike incident … well ya … dubya’s a dumbass … prolly riding a bike with training wheels too when it happened