Mark Oliver, James Sturcke and agencies
Thursday July 21, 2005
Police and emergency services outside Shepherd’s Bush tube station following reports of explosions at three tube stations and a bus. Photograph: Andrew Stuart/AP
Terrified passengers were evacuated from parts of London’s transport system today after incidents involving explosives at three underground stations and a bus.
The explosions were attempts to kill that had failed, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, said tonight.
Two small blasts occurred on tube trains: one near Warren Street station in central London, and the other on a tube train near Oval station in south London.
A third small explosion was reported on a No 26 bus in Shoreditch, east London.
A suspect package was also found at Shepherd’s Bush station in west London.
One woman was reportedly injured at Warren Street, but there were no reports of casualties during the other incidents, which happened shortly before 1pm.
Sir Ian said tonight: “The intention must have been to kill.”
But he added: “The intention of the terrorists has not been fulfilled.”
He would not give details about the devices, and asked for patience while the “fast-moving” investigation developed. Sir Ian said Londoners had now got “back to business” after earlier warnings to remain where they were, and that police may have made a breakthrough as forensic material had been recovered.
It was too soon to link the attacks to the July 7 bombings in which 56 people died, but Sir Ian said there was a “resonance”.
The prime minister, Tony Blair, urged people to remain calm and get on with their business as normal. He said: “We can’t minimise incidents such as this”, but added: “We know why these things are done. They’re done to scare people.”
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