July 07, 2005

Terror attack in London (updating)

July 7 - Updating as new reports come in.

09:41 - New Sisyphus asks one question I've been afraid to ask in John Bull: London Calling.

The deadly situation at King's Cross continues to be a concern. Fox reports people are being treated on the platform in a desperate effort to save lives. I was afraid to say this earlier, but one feature of attacks in Israel have been bombs timed to go off as rescue personnel arrive. So far it looks as though at least that particular atrocity didn't occur.

09:20 - Fox reports Sky news reports 45 dead, 1000 injuried with 150 of those seriously.

I'm not sure how much longer I can hold together. I feel as though I'm moving rapidly onto fury after scarcely a pause at shock and horror, and although I've been on this for over two hours it seems more like 2 minutes.

Is this how it is supposed to work? Sept. 11 left me in shock and then tears for several days. The attack in Bali had me scrambling across the internet as I tried so desperately just to get information (stupid CNN) that it was awhile before the true enormity of that attack became apparent.

The shock after the Madrid attack lasted for several hours, yet it's been scarce two hours since I first learned of the London attack and I am into fury and moving rapidly to livid.

Stupid murderous bastards. Do they realize that resolute people become even more implacable when such events remind us how very much is at stake? Or do they have so little respect for us that they assume we just need more "lessons?"

Fury checkpoint passed. Screw livid. On to cold rage.

09:00 - The Daily Mail Online is reporting 150 injuries and they too seem to be updating this page continuously. (Link via Neale News.)

Fox just reported 300 injured.

08:35 - President Bush just made a brief statement. I think he's genuinely angry about the attacks. He did say he's already been in contact with the Secretary of Homeland Security back in the U.S.

I switch over to CBC in case PM Martin was making a statement but they seem somewhat behind events as the newscaster invited everyone to stay tuned as they puzzled out who is responsible and what their goals were. (Um, to kill people?) CITY-TV reports that the TTC (Toronton Transit) has not issued a threat alert but have advised personnel to be cautious.

08:26 - The BBC website has a page on which they are covering events as they unfold, and it looks as though they are updating regularly. The most recent entry is that "people are still trapped at King's Cross Station, and efforts are being made to rescue them." That's f***ing chilling.

8:10 - Robert reports (and comments) on Blair's response to the attacks, and Fox just aired another Blair statement, this time from the G-8 conference with those attending standing behind him.

Fox commentators note that this attack might help remind them that the biggest challenge confronting us this century is terrorism, not global warming.

Instapundit has the expected excellent links, and adds that a reader notes that the trial of Abu Hamza - the "Hook" - opened yesterday.

08:01 - Fox confirms there were 7 bombs and they say al Arabiya reports that an al Qaeda associated group states they were responsibile for the attacks.

The first bomb in London went off at 8:42 a.m. These bastards just love to attack people who work.

07:25 - Fox TV is reporting rumours of more explosions on buses and a "suspicious" package has been retrieved. Expat Yank Robert is posting from London on the attacks, and after my initial relief that he's okay, I'm going to be following his reports. (His first post is here, for the archivists among us.)

The Fox website direct story link is here.

6:58 - Damn. Damn. Damn. Half-expecting it doesn't make it any the easier.

It took me awhile to get onto the Telegraph website 'Terrible injuries' after London explosions so I'm going to just quote the entire article:

All London underground services and roads into the City have been closed after what is thought to be a major terrorist attack on the Tube and bus network during the rush hour.

At least six Tube stations have been affected, including Aldgate East, Edgware Road, King's Cross, Liverpool Street, Moorgate, and Russell Square, Scotland Yard said.

tube_map_199.gif

Tube map (link opens to enlarged map)

[Circles represent left Edgware Road, top center King's Cross St. Pancras, bottom center Russell Square, top right Liverpool Street, bottom right Aldgate. Ed. Update: I'm quoting Jay here to give some idea of the location of the sixth bombing: "Add another one southwest of the more-or-less center circle, where the blue line intersects the black one, Leicester."]

Explosions have been reported on buses at Russell Square and Tavistock Square. Union bosses said there had been three bus explosions.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, said there had been "terrible injuries". He advised people not to make unnecessary journeys into London.

A doctor at Aldgate underground station said there had been 90 casualties. There were unconfirmed reports that a number of people had died on the bus in Russell Square.

A policeman at the scene said: "We believe there have been a number of fatalities and a number of people who are seriously injured."

Alun Duncan, shadow home secretary, blamed terrorists for the attacks. He said: "This is the ultimate nightmare coming into play.

"It is not for us to guess what their motives are."

One train passenger at Aldgate said: "People were screaming, we could not get out. There was so much dust, people were choking. I thought I was going to die of dust inhalation.

"One woman told us to get down. We got out of one of the doors that had busted open. There were bodies and pieces of train everywhere.

"There was a huge hole on the side of the carriage."

Sky producer, Bob Mills who was at Russell Square, said an explosion "definitely happened above ground".

He described the top of a bus being "completely destroyed".

BTP initially blamed power surges, but the National Grid, which supplies power to the Underground, later said there had been no problems with its system which could have contributed to the incidents.

Union officials said they had been told by at least one senior Tube manager that there had been at least one explosive device on the Underground.

The incidents come a day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and on the day the G8 summit begins in Gleneagles.

A Metronet spokesman said: "It looks as if we have a major incident. The whole system is being shut down."

Mainline train company First Great Western said its services into London's Paddington station were terminating at Reading in Berkshire because of the Underground crisis.

Posted by: Debbye at 07:02 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 1107 words, total size 8 kb.

1 Add another one southwest of the more-or-less center circle, where the blue line intersects the black one, Leicester (according to Fox).

Posted by: Jay at July 07, 2005 07:52 AM (PuNh2)

2 Right you are, Jay. I can see it on my screen, but haven't seen it on the sites (although I'm surfing pretty rapidly.) I wish I knew how to add a blue dot myself. Stupid stupid stupid that I've never learned how to do stuff with all these bells and whistles on this tech wonder.

Posted by: Debbye at July 07, 2005 09:29 AM (naVOE)

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