shortly after London’s underground system and a bus were shaken by a second by less deadly replay of terror attacks that rocked the capital two weeks ago, killing 56 people. It was expected to add to concern among among British Evangelical Christians who have set up special prayer groups to pray for London and the country.
"We can’t minimize incidents such as this," Blair told reporters, following the lunchtime explosions. "We know why these things are done. They’re done to scare people". However "fortunately there appear to have been no casualties. We’ve just got to react calmly, get on with our business as normal."
He stressed he would be going back to his previously planned schedule. At least one person was injured Thursday, July 21, as the blasts went off in underground trains known as the "Tubes" here, police said. Eyewitnesses reported seeing rucksacks which had exploded.
The stations affected were Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd’s Bush, several sources said.
In addition, a Number 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green had reportedly its windows blown out by a blast. There were no reports of injuries in that explosion.
HEARING BANG
"The driver heard a bang which appeared to come from the upper deck. When he went upstairs to investigate, the windows on the upper deck were blown out. The bus is structurally intact and we don’t have any reports of injuries," said a transport spokesman, according to the London Evening Standard newspaper’s website.
Scotland Yard, Britain’s prime police investigative agency, told media that no chemical agents had been found on the different sites, in a bit to calm fears over a possible chemical attack.
It also confirmed that armed officers had been deployed to an "incident" at University College Hospital, near Warren Street, where many casualties from the July 7 attacks were treated, the Evening Standard and other sources said.
ATTACKER INJURED?
There have been reports that the single confirmed injured person in the latest blasts, had been involved in carrying out the attacks, but it was not clear if the suspect was treated at the University College Hospital. Sky News reported witnesses seeing a man dump a backpack in a subway car at Oval station, south London, before fleeing as the doors closed.
"We are dealing with an incident at University College Hospital and we have armed officers deployed there," Scotland Yard said in a statement. At least three armed officers were seen going into the major incident unit at that hospital just minutes before someone was carried from an ambulance into the unit on a stretcher, the Evening Standard reported.
It came amid news that someone had also been seen "running away" from Warren Street in the wake of the incident there. Eyewitnesses of two of the four explosions to hit the city’s transportation system told of close calls with what could have been would-be bombers running away after dropping backpacks on subway trains.
RUNNING TO ESCALATOR
"We all got off on the platform and the guy just ran and started running up the escalator," one witness who gave her name as Andrea told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). "Everyone was screaming for someone to stop him. He ran past me … and he ran out of the station. In fact he left a bag on the train," she said of the incident at Warren Street station in central London. Another witness told Sky News television that passengers tried to prevent the man from running away, but failed.
Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was traveling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when he was evacuated from a train at Warren Street, after smoke was seen in the area. "I was sitting in the carriage reading a book and I smelt something burning, like wiring or tyres, and it just got more intense," he told reporters.
"Suddenly people panicked and started screaming and were walking on each other’s backs trying to get the hell out of there. I couldn’t move, I didn’t know what to do, whether to run or not. "People ran and left their shoes and belongings when they smelt the burning," Mohellavi said.
SMELLING SMOKE
Witness Ivan McCracken told Sky News he too smelled smoke and that panicked people rushed into his carriage. "I was in a middle carriage and the train was not far short of Warren Street station when suddenly the door between my carriage and the next one burst open and dozens of people started rushing through. Some were falling, there was mass panic."
He also confirmed that there were indications that a rucksack had exploded. "It was difficult to get the story from any of them what had happened but when I got to ground level there was an Italian young man comforting an Italian girl who told me he had seen what had happened. 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."
He said "the man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage." Blair and London Mayor Ken Livingstone cancelled a visit this afternoon to the Family Assistance Centre set up to help victims of the July 7 blasts in light of the current Tube incidents, news reports said.
CHURCHES WATCH
The latest developments were closely watched by several churches and Christian aid groups who played a key role in treating injured victims during the terror attacks earlier this month, BosNewsLife established. However the Evangelical Alliance UK (EAUK) urged its members following the previous attacks that a "spirit of peace and mercy was encouraged" and it urged people "not to allow feelings of panic or revenge come to them."
Pope Benedict XVI said earlier that "terrorism is not a clash of civilization, but the action of groups of fanatics," responding to a question about the July 7 London bombings. He added that "dialogue between the three monotheistic religions is very important." He also expressed "profound sadness" for the "atrocious terrorist attacks" and told bombers and other terrorists to "stop in the name of God."
Thursday’s explosions came as British Prime Minister Blair was due to hold talks later in the day with senior intelligence officers and police chiefs to discuss whether they need extra powers in the wake of the earlier London bombings. (With reports from London, BosNewwsLife BosNewsLife News Center and BosNewsLife Research. BosNewsLife is On the Story: due to requests from around the world readers may experience some delays when accessing the website).
