Posted on 07/21/2005 7:13:42 AM PDT by Srirangan
A number of Tube stations have been evacuated and lines closed after three blasts in what Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair says is a "serious incident".
Sir Ian appealed to Londoners to stay where they were and said the transport system was effectively being shut down.
The minor explosions used detonators only, a BBC reporter said.
In addition, a Number 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green had its windows blown out by a blast. There were no injuries.
Large areas around Warren Street, Oval and the Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line Tube stations have been cordoned off.
One person was injured at Warren Street. There were reports the injured person may have been holding a rucksack containing the detonator.
Lines suspended
Police said armed officers had been deployed to University College Hospital after an incident.
The whole of the Northern Line has been suspended, along with the Victoria Line and the Hammersmith and City line.
A number of other stations were closed including Westminster tube station, Waterloo tube station and King's Cross Thameslink. There were also reports that St Paul's tube and Oxford Circus tube station were closed.
Tony Blair cancelled events in the afternoon and will be attending a meeting of the Cobra committee along with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
The BBC's Andrew Winstanley said devices had been found but appeared to have been dummies, containing no explosives.
London Underground went to an amber alert with trains taken to the next station and evacuated.
An eyewitness at Oval station said there had been a small bang, and a man had then run off when the Tube reached the station.
A spokesman for Stagecoach said the driver of the number 26 bus travelling through Shoreditch had heard a bang on upper deck, gone upstairs and seen the windows were blown out.
The bus driver was very shaken but said to be fine.
At Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line station, police told reporters that a man had threatened to blow himself up and then ran off.
Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street.
"I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning.
"Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking."
The BBC's Rory Barnett said there had been no smoke on the platform at Warren St.
Liz Edwards, who works near Warren Street Underground station, said the area was full of activity.
"There are police, fire engines and ambulances all around there. A guy from our office had just come back from the station and said the police were aggressively keeping people away from the station and that you could not get anywhere near it."
EMP's will take an air burst. Unless the islamokazis develop , or buy, their own ballistic missile the point is mute.
your post excerpt ...
"Here's what Muslims need to know -- conservatives are different.
If Muslims nuke us, we nuke them. If they kill us we're not going to feel guilty and give them money for poverty programs or anything else. We're not going to "understand" them. When Muslims act like guests who pee on our carpets when invited to our homes, we'll throw them out. If when they're guest in our homes/countries and kill our families, we'll retaliate.
We're not going to take their rude antics anymore. If they nuke us, we nuke them. Period."
Although American citizens being banned from travelling to Cuba isn't?
Wouldn't it be funny if these "suicide bombers" were sent out with just enough explosive to maim themselves and nobody else?
The blasting caps could singe the bomber, but the innocent guy next to him can laugh and point: "Stupid Muhammed!"
Too many.
But statistically the percentage to the rest of the population is
small compared to the UK, where it has reached a critical mass.
throw rocks, probably
Forgive my laughter but if 2% of Americans are muslim (and we all know there are more) and 3% of Britons are Muslim, only a ideological zealot would call that a much greater problem.
Apples. Oranges. Straw-men.
You can stop laughing now.
LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_United_Kingdom
Muslims in the UKAccording to the 2001 census 1,591,000 Muslims are living in England and Wales, where they form 2.7 % of the population. The local authorities with the highest percentage of Muslim population are:
London Borough of Tower Hamlets 36.4% 71,389
London Borough of Newham 24.3% 59,293
Blackburn with Darwen19.4% 26,674
Bradford 16.1% 75,188
London Borough of Waltham Forest 15.1% 32,902
Luton 14.6% 26,963
Birmingham 14.3% 14,033
London Borough of Hackney 13.8% 27,908
Pendle 13.4% 11,988
Slough 13.4% 15,897
London Borough of Brent 12.3% 32,290
Muslim Population in the US
The following are a few recent estimates on the number of Muslims residing in the USA:
1.2 million (2000) National Opinion Research Center [0.4% of the national population]
ping.
Muslim Population in the USA - according to this, it's approximately 5 million.
Ivan
His numbers are not wrong. Your link to "Islam 101" which lists the "population statistics" on the number of Muslims in the US, says that the statistics were provided by some organization called the "AMC" or Arab Muslim Council, hardly a credible source. The link provided in #109 above provides figures from more credible sources.
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