Posted on 07/07/2005 1:45:13 AM PDT by RWR8189
There has been an explosion at Aldgate East underground station in London, causing the closure of the entire Tube network.
There are also reports that a second incident took place at Edgware Road station in north west London.
The Aldgate East blast was caused by "some kind of power surge", according to Tube infrastructure company Metronet, which is responsible for maintaining the Metropolitan line.
A spokesman said: "We don't know the extent of the problem yet."
A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We have just sent some resources out to the scene."
British Transport Police confirmed that there are "walking wounded" and said paramedics have responded to one report of a person classed as "life at risk".
"It's chaos, with people trying to work out what has happened," said a spokesman.
"All we know at the moment is that staff reported a loud bang at 8.49am. No one is sure what caused an explosion, but it is thought it could have been a collision, a power cut, or a power cable problem."
One witness said the packed underground train he was on was 200 metres from Kings Cross when there was a huge flash.
The train stopped and people were using umberellas to smash windows of the trains. Passengers were led out of the train by underground staff.
He added people were milling around Kings Cross covered in soot.
Thanks for that bit of levity!
Well said.
I don't want to minimize the horror, and the death toll is unfortunately going to go much higher, but this was Great Britain, Al Qaeda's 2nd biggest target, after the US. Yet all they could pull off is a relatively low tech bombing. Sure, it was coordinated with a good bit of effort, but this was the best they could muster and is far, far short of what they've threatened and the danger we feared.
Again, not trying to minimize this horrible attack, but if a Richard Clarke is trying to imply that AQ is back in top form because the WOT/Iraq is misguided and wasting resources, well he is FOS.
I seem to recall that he has been a very strong critic of the President in the past. In any case I hope that your mayor is of the same ilk as our Rudy.
Red Ken, who sounded terribly naiive (I'm being charitable here) when he said that the Muslims come to London to enjoy freedom. A large chunk are there to be foot soldiers in the worldwide quest of Islamokazi.
Yep.... the new litmus test for judges became whether or not the judge recognizes a constitutional mandate to fight the WOT.
That these were not chemical, biological or dirty bombs tells us that they're pathetic. Now it seems the 'witching hour' has just passed on the East Coast. That is if 8:49am is the appointed time.
Re: "...despite the efforts of the Dems to impede, we have NOT been hit..unlike Madrid, London, and other places.."
Keep your fingers crossed!
That's why their mayor was the first to raise the terror alert.
Side note: I wondered why Katie Quric chose to wear a dress-up white outfit today when she knew the big story was the Terrorist attacks. All is explained - she is now interviewing Bob Woodward.
Jaber Elbaneh was arrested several months ago as part of Yemen's fight against terrorism, the official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. . . .
Did I miss something ?
Amen PD....and happy contrails to ya...
Referring to Gitmo:*The Mayor of London, Ken Livingston said they pose no threat to our security and he hopes the prisoners would go on to sue the US authorities for years of detention and abuse. Livingston added, “I hope one day President Bush and those who authorised this use of low-level torture will face prosecution themselves.”*
Yes and no. It's weak in the sense it was conventional, but extremely troubling given the kind of coordination this required in a city blanketed with intelligence. This had to be in planning for quite some time, so I would assume there are sleeper cells elsewhere still snoozing away.
Red Ken said it for me. Luckily I was wise with my words and praised only his oratory skills instead of others, of which I know nothing.
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