Posted on 07/21/2005 12:22:37 PM PDT by familyop
LONDON -- Subway stations closed, traffic backed up and offices were emptied Thursday after a new assault on London's transit system. Even with little bloodshed or damage, fear spread.
Panicked and screaming commuters fled the affected subway stations, some running out of their shoes. One Londoner said everyone he knew was buying bicycles.
"I won't be taking the Tube or bus to work tomorrow," said Dean Duffy, a 28-year-old bricklayer, who heard a bang as he left the Oval Station in south London.
Near the Warren Street station, witness Ivan McCracken told Sky News that people began coming into his carriage and he smelled smoke. An Italian passenger told him a backpack had exploded, McCracken said.
"He said that a man was carrying a rucksack and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack," McCracken said. "The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point, everyone rushed from the carriage."
Losiane Mohellavi, 35, also evacuated at Warren Street, said he smelled smoke and "everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking."
In east London, where an explosion blew out the windows of a double-decker bus, firefighters and police - some with bomb-detecting dogs - sealed off a city block of restaurants, shops and apartments. Residents peered through curtains from upper-floor apartments, some speaking on cell phones.
Paul Williamson, 19, said police went down the street evacuating people from bars, shops and cafes.
"This is something London has to get used to," he said. "It's not going to stop overnight."
Closed-circuit TV cameras showed the bus immobilized at a stop with its indicator lights flashing. The area around the bus was cordoned off.
There was no visible damage or debris on the street. Passengers who got off the bus appeared slightly rattled, but unharmed, and the company said the bus was structurally intact.
Nevertheless, the incident touched off fresh fear.
"This is a replay of last week. Everyone I know is buying bicycles now," 32-year-old Allan Harp said as he got off another bus in the area.
The U.S. Embassy in central London was closed to visitors about two hours after the incidents as a precaution, but embassy staff continued working, spokeswoman Susan Domowitz said.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would resume his regular schedule, saying it was important to "continue with our business as much as possible as normal."
Mobile phone companies reported a huge surge in phone use, though not as big as two weeks ago, when explosions killed 56 people, including four suicide bombers, in attacks on three subway trains and a bus. They urged customers to keep calls brief or use text messaging.
Ahmed Laarbi, 29, a Muslim from Morocco, said he was stopped and searched by police near the Warren Street station.
"The police asked me: 'What's in your bag? What are you doing here?'" he said. "They're just doing their job.
"Panicked and screaming commuters fled the affected subway stations, some running out of their shoes"
- Islamonazis win again.
All the mosques still open for business as usual?
Those'll be fun in November.
Or until car bombs start going off.
Hmmmm .....maybe the Brits need another Lord Bentinck (governor general of India 1833-35). He seemed to take care of the Thugee cult pretty well.
- Islamonazis win again.
Yup. The terrorists accomplished exactly what they intended.
Unrelated to London but possible related
Bank evacuated in Greensboro NC
From Staff Reports
2:55 p.m.
GREENSBORO – Police have evacuated a Bank of America adjacent to the Four Seasons Towne Center parking deck along Pinecroft Road this afternoon.
Scanner traffic indicates the department’s hazardous response team is on its way to the bank. The first call arrived to Greensboro police at 2:25 p.m.
Details are developing.
Everyone I know is buying bicycles now,"
Interesting...
I'd like to see you try to turn off your fight-or-flight instincts.
Huh?
>>"This is something London has to get used to," he said. "It's not going to stop overnight."<<
WTF kind of roll-over-and-play-dead response is that?
Instead of buying bicycles, they ought to be buying handguns and shoulder holsters.
Well you were responding to the line "[p]anicked and screaming commuters fled the affected subway stations, some running out of their shoes." When you hear an explosion, that is a probable natural reaction.
"I'd like to see you try to turn off your fight-or-flight instincts."
-Who said anything about turning it off? They don't call it "fight or flight" for no reason. I've been in violent situations before and I can assure you that my tendency is to fight...not flight.
B'limey! I would be hysterical for weeks, too, being, as I am, more BriTish than American--more of the elite western-Euro-person than of the USA! Hmmm...think I'll read Lawrence of Arabia again.
[...little irony and humor there.]
I wonder if Mi5 is watching Galloway? Time to take that terrorist out.
"I'd like to see you try to turn off your fight-or-flight instincts."
What fight instinct, sounds like they all ran. Someone should have pounded the snot out of the turd.
Getting all hysterical is giving in to terrorism. I'm glad my country is largely unmoved by these idiots. We had 20-odd years of the IRA doing this nonsense, we weren't impressed by them and we aren't impressed by this lot. Back to normal.
Two observations... 1) somebody mixed up a bad load of explosives and 2) this appears the bombs were set to go off unexpectedly to the bearer, thereby creating some more "suicide" bombers (like the last bunch) who won't be caught to later chat with the authorities.
It sounds like the bombs may have been almost identical to the last bunch.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4705419.stm
I wonder if these guys punked out somehow out of reluctance to go up in flames like their friends did last week.
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