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Explosions in London

 
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Its all kicking off here, sirens blaring, police everywhere. Its kind of hard to know what's going on - all the phone networks are down, and most of the news websites are so busy that they are down too.

Seems like multiple explosions, people dead
 
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CNN reports official cause is a power surge in the Tube somewhere, which does not account for the explosions reported in 2 busses.

IRA seems more likely though they've been rather quiet lately (but doing something like this just after London wins the Olympics would be like terrorists worldwide).
 
Dave Lenton
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4659237.stm
 
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Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:
CNN reports official cause is a power surge in the Tube somewhere, which does not account for the explosions reported in 2 busses.

IRA seems more likely though they've been rather quiet lately (but doing something like this just after London wins the Olympics would be like terrorists worldwide).




Unlikely to be the IRA. There was no warning, they almost always give warnings.
I also suspect it's more closely related to the start of the G8 summit then us winning the Olympics.

6 explosions reported - 20 dead.
 
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At approximately 11:10 UTC 7 July 2005, the BBC News reported that a website known to be operated by associates of Al Qaeda has been located with a 200 word statement claiming responsibility for the attacks. German Magazine Der Spiegel has reported that a group named 'Secret Organisation - al-Qaeda in Europe' has posted a claim of responsibility on the "al-Qala'a" internet forum, which has been a source for genuine claims in the past. The letter also warns other governments involved in Iraq, mentioning specifically Denmark and Italy, warning governments to leave Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_London_transport_explosions
Trapped Underground: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Image:Trapped_underground.jpg

Obviously two hundred thousand people coming together to help the poor and suffering didn't mean much these fanatics!
 
Ashok Mash
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More photos (flikr slideshow):

http://www.flickr.com/groups/74918957@N00/pool/show/
 
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Tossers they are, I tell thee
 
Rancher
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It'll probably only take a single post to get this thread deleted. Sad but true.
Please step lightly.
 
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My m8 in London was heading off to work this morning, he was about to get on the tube when he was told that it was closed to power surges.

Unfortunately its something much worse. Im trying to get a hold of folk I know in London right now to see if theyre ok.

Its terrible.
 
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I am very sorry to hear that there has been an terrorist attack on London - and
I feel with anyone who was harmed by it, either physically or mentally.

And here I am.. 3 days away from traveling to London *sigh*
[ July 07, 2005: Message edited by: Svend Rost ]
 
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My thought and prayers go out to my friends in London. Terrorist attacks, regardless of their source, only invoke more anger and resentment. They are never part of a viable solution. I hope America stands with England as faithfully as they stood with us...

As far as the murderers responsible, this really doesn't sound like the IRA's MO (i.e no warning, no claim of responsibility). The "Group of al-Qaeda of Jihad Organization in Europe" claimed responsibility, but nobody has ever heard of this terror cell before. They could very well just be a group trying to take advantage of the attacks, which almost certainately had to do with the G8 summit.
 
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In the morning we heard the news that there was a major power surge in the
underground tube. A few people were injured and the tubes were closed.

Later, it was 90 people injured, but now the numbers have increased.
After the 3 bus explosions, it was clear that it was terrorism.
Adding to the tension, even the mobile networks went down to the sudden increase in the number of callers.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1188265,00.html
 
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What a morning. Set off for work at 0840, moved between three stations in 25 mins with huge delays, not knowing of any attack, then I heard the whole tube network had shut down. I eventually found another way to get to the city (first train to Fenchurch Street), only to find that buses had also been suspended with lots of police, TV crews, helicopters, fire engines and so on, so I found a route to get home (the station - the only one operating in the city, was shut shortly after I left, so I was very lucky). Lots of people are trapped in the city as the whole transport system has stopped, so they have no way of getting home.

My mother was very upset, particularly because I use Aldgate East Station everyday (where two people were confirmed dead).

There is rolling news on all channels here.

Terrible.
 
K Riaz
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More than 30 people have been confirmed dead. Bodies have been amputated. Mobile networks are very congested (like it was on 9/11).
 
Paul Bourdeaux
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Originally posted by Kashif Riaz:
My mother was very upset, particularly because I use Aldgate East Station everyday (where two people were confirmed dead).


I am truely happy to hear that you are OK Kashif. I have heard that 33 are confirmed dead, with scores wounded. I only hope and pray that the numbers dont continue to rise.
 
K Riaz
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Thank you Paul. I too hope that the numbers stay down, but officals are sure that it will rise as there are many casualties (reports of > 1000 injured).
 
Gerald Davis
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Originally posted by David O'Meara:
It'll probably only take a single post to get this thread deleted. Sad but true.
Please step lightly.



I sure it will not get deleted. they understand that I is a bit irate about what happened, not only to the people in the incident but also to the fact that they tainted the wonderful celebration to of us winning the Games. I can talk and analyze the sociology of these criminals; like I would usually do but I don�t think anybody would want to know.
 
Jeroen Wenting
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Can you really talk and analyse the minds of the perps in events like this without breaking the "be nice" rule of these forums?
 
Angela Poynton
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Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:
Can you really talk and analyse the minds of the perps in events like this without breaking the "be nice" rule of these forums?



If you can't, go elsewhere to discuss it.

It's the same rule we had to enforce after 9/11 and we'll enforce it again.
 
Paul Bourdeaux
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Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:
Can you really talk and analyse the minds of the perps in events like this without breaking the "be nice" rule of these forums?


I agree, although I will try my very best to be nice in my comments. Sometimes it can be extremely hard, as acts such as this invoke many personal, angry memories of 9/11...
 
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What a terrible tragedy.

My girlfriend was in London today. She never goes to London and the one time she does this happens.

I spent this morning in a state of permanent worry because I couldn't get through to her mobile as the networks were jammed. She managed to call me later on in the morning.

A lot of innocent people have once again died for no reason. I just wish it was possible to understand what turns humans in to cold blooded murderers.

Why attack people just trying to lead a quiet ordinary life. These people weren't invading anywhere, or killing anyone, or making political policy or statements. They just wanted to get to work.
 
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My deepest condolences to the victims, victim�s families, and the people of England.

I believe that is all anyone can say at this point.
 
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I think i offended someone with my post that's why it got deleted. I really want to apologize for this and it wasn't my intention. May they rest in peace
[ July 07, 2005: Message edited by: Mala Sharma ]
 
mister krabs
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To all our British friends, know that the US, especially we New Yorkers, will be keeping you in our prayers.
[ July 07, 2005: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]
 
Rick Beaver
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I would just like add that our emergency services rocked today. It never ceases to amaze me how firefighters, paramedics and doctors manage to function so efficiently and professionally in such ghastly circumstances.

They don't get paid half as much as they should for the work they do. I think it takes a special kind of person to do the work they do...

People worship rock stars, sports personalities, Bill Gates, Movie stars etc. It's the modest workers in our emergency services who deserve our respect and admiration.

Both in NY and London when all around are running away from the danger, they are running towards it... Respect.
 
Angela Poynton
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Originally posted by Rick Beaver:
I would just like add that our emergency services rocked today. It never ceases to amaze me how firefighters, paramedics and doctors manage to function so efficiently and professionally in such ghastly circumstances.



Absolutely. Thankfully a scenario like this was well rehearsed and it looks like the plans put in place worked effectively.
The big problem now is getting people out of the city to their homes. I'm lucky that I work near Heathrow and don't use the Tube to get to work, so was relatively unaffected.
To my knowledge everyone I know is safe and I'm thankful for that.
 
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Because I want this thread to stay open, I'm going to ask anyone with expressions of anger, or a sociopolitical analysis, or whatever, to take it elsewhere.

If you'd like to express concern for the victims, this is the right place.

If you'd like to talk about how this-or-that country/group/whatever is/isn't is responsible, what this-or-that country/group/whatever did/didn't/should/shouldn't do, etc, your post will get deleted, and you might get this thread closed for a lot of nice people who have been following the rules.

Thanks,
M
 
Jeroen Wenting
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Originally posted by Paul Bourdeaux:

I agree, although I will try my very best to be nice in my comments. Sometimes it can be extremely hard, as acts such as this invoke many personal, angry memories of 9/11...



I know. I think my comment showed quite how I feel about these entities (I won't call them people, that would be a disservice towards all of us) without actually saying so
 
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My sincerest thoughts are with all my British friends tonight. Living in Manhattan, I certainly do empathize.

I recall having a group session at work immediately after the 9/11 bombings, when so many of us were still in a state of shock & anxiety and one of our British colleagues told us how "as crazy as this sounds, you'll all get used to it - it will just become a part of your psyche. Trust me, it will be okay, and you won't think about this anymore." Even though I was nervous I thought of that statement a lot and it did help. That is knowledge. I am very confident the Brits will be fine.
 
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My heartfelt condolences to the victims, families, and everyone else affected by the attacks on London.

Layne
 
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Yesterday evening I was glued to the screen - stunned as the various networks scrambled to try and establish what had occured and early confused reports gradually filtered through to the media.

By the time I went to bed it was clear that although the events were serious and tragic, the emergency services in London were doing a fantastic job of organising and dealing with things.

This morning a quick check of a few websites reveals that most London transport will be open for business (except the few specific locations) and that even the world stock markets are predicting that the inevitable downturn from this will be just a temporary blip and London gets back to its business without too much fuss and bother.

As cities go, London is one where unfortunately dealing with terrorist bombings is familiar - All that practice has left a legacy of excellent emergency reponse procedures that make us British proud. Seeing emergency services calmy and efficiently doing their thing and seeing people neatly shepparded away from incident areas is an absolutely fantastic demonstration of how well events like this can be dealt with. Well done to those who have worked on Londons disaster planning.

btw: on a lighter note - at least "7/7" neatly sidesteps the date format problems that would no doubt confuse on a more ambigous date (9/11 or 11/9?)
 
Dave Lenton
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A very eerie day. I don't think I've ever heard so many sirens for so long as I have yesterday. I work in central London, so its not surprising that I heard a lot of emergency services going past during the day, but what surprised me was how much I heard while at home. Even though I live about 6 miles away from the city centre, I heard far more sirens then normal, all through-out the night and this morning. I guess what is happening is that my local hospital (Lewisham) is taking some of the overflow from the central London hospitals.

There were two strange things which stood out to me from what happened yesterday. Firstly was the sense that this wasn't a surprise. Ever since the attacks of 11th September, and the Madrid attacks, it was always fairly likely that we would be targeted. In addition to that was the legacy of the IRA campaign. Although its a fairly terrible situation to not be shocked that there was an attack, at least it meant that we were prepared. As has been said before, the performance of the emergency services was nothing short of heroic. Not only that, but it was well organised heroics. Someone somewhere has obviously put a lot of work into emergency planning, which we can be very thankful for.

The second strange thing, which I suspect people in New York and Madrid perhaps also felt, was the strong silent determination to continue as normal. People often mock the "British stiff upper lip", but there's more to it then just being slightly stand-offish. Its clear that most people really don't want something bad like this to change the way they lead their lives, they don't want the attackers to succeed. Maybe its something that happens often in situations like this, but it could also be down to the war. Every time something bad happens in the UK you'll hear people saying "we got through the Blitz, we'll get through this". That same spirit was much in evidence yesterday.

It may sound strange, but this morning people still queued up to get on the number 30 bus, they still went onto the tube, and they came into work. Admittedly its quieter then normal (with some of the transport network closed, some people just can't get in), but not as much as you may at first think. People really just want to get on with life as normal. There's not much else that can be done really.
 
Angela Poynton
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I heard stories of people who had been caught up in one of the blasts, who left the scene as walking wounded and went straight to work.

To me, that's the perfect example of why terrorism will never have the desired effect on Londoners. In a couple of weeks everyone will be going about their business exactly as they were the day before yesterday. I don't have to travel on the underground to get to or from work but my housemate does. This morning she wasn't too keen but she felt she had to go, she works as a Customer Service Agent for Transport for London, yesterday was her day off and she felt she should be there for her collegues who had to deal with the calls yesterday. The train she gets is the ones that comes out of heathrow and it was apparently almost completely empty, I expect a lot of people flying in will have arranged alternative transport.
For a few days I expect it'll remain the same, quiet and eerie, but I have no doubt that within a fortnight it'll be like it never happened. Except of course for those directly affected and their families, who have my deepest sympathy.
 
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terrible and unforgiveable.
Condolences to the victims.
[ July 08, 2005: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]
 
Jeroen Wenting
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another reason for empty trains out of Heathrow might be that many people will not have known the trains were running.
When I left home this morning the news updates (at 7CEST) mentioned the Tube wasn't running but expected to get back in operation later today.
Apparently that information was outdated but people travelling to London would have had that as the latest and gone to the taxistands instead (of course with the T4 station closed traffic volume will already be lower out of Heathrow).
 
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Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
To all our British friends, know that the US, especially we New Yorkers, will be keeping you in our prayers.





same here!

a new yorker to be
 
Paul Bourdeaux
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www.werenotafraid.com

The name says it all. It was set up by a Londoner in defiance of terrorist attacks. Take a look if you can get through (The server is being ovewhelmed by requests because the site has recently been featured on several international news channels/websites).
 
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I haven't seen much about parallels with the Battle of Brittain and the years of IRA bombs, but how could anyone think they could intimidate and break the spirit of London, of all cities in the world?
 
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Suicide bombers were found to be British citizen of Pakistani origin.They were born and brought up in Britain.
My questoin: How will you prevent these incidances in future?
 
Dave Lenton
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Originally posted by Hu Jiabao:
Suicide bombers were found to be British citizen of Pakistani origin.They were born and brought up in Britain.
My questoin: How will you prevent these incidances in future?



Um. Not sure how to answer this while remaining fairly neutral and non-political.

The key thing will be to hold onto our heads and not leap to some quick and inaccurate solutions. Careful consideration is needed. The gut reaction is to do things like additional legislation, remove people from the country, arrest all sorts of other people... but these won't solve the problem.

Perhaps the answer is more mundane. Improve the economy to give people more jobs (busy well off people are less likely to want to blow things up), improve education about different cultures, encourage mixing and communication between different religions etc etc.

Basically we can't create a situation where this kind of attack is impossible, but perhaps we can create a situation where its harder for people to hate each other. I'm sure the main keys to this are reducing poverty and ignorance.
 
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