July 21 (Bloomberg) -- London police are investigating the attempted bombings of three subway trains and a bus, and have closed five lines on the Underground network, two weeks after the worst attack on the capital since World War II.
One person was injured in the incidents, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said in an interview aired by Sky News. One device may have exploded while three others failed to go off properly, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
``We've just got to react calmly and continue with our business,'' U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said at a press conference at his Downing Street office. ``We know why these things are done. They're done to frighten people.''
The incidents today occurred simultaneously and at the four points of the compass, in a pattern resembling the July 7 terrorist attacks that killed 56 people. Today, Warren Street, Oval and Shepherds Bush Underground stations and a bus in east London were evacuated. Eyewitnesses told Sky that smoke appeared from a rucksack carried by a passenger in one subway carriage.
``There is nothing to indicate any kind of attack that involves chemicals or anything else,'' said Ian Blair of the police. ``It's broadly conventional. The situation is absolutely at the moment under control.''
The driver of the number 26 bus in Hackney, east London, heard a bang from the upper deck of the vehicle and said the windows were blown out, according to Steve Stewart, a spokesman for Stagecoach Plc, which operates public transport services. The bus is intact and there are no injuries, he said. The BBC said a split backpack was left on the floor of a bus.
Blair Informed
``There was a nasty burning rubber smell but no smoke,'' Caroline Russell, who was traveling on the subway at Warren Street, told the BBC in an interview today.
Police also cordoned off University College Hospital in central London today and sent an ``armed response'' unit there, police spokesman Steve Sherwood said in an interview. A memo was distributed to hospital employees indicating a suspect in the Warren Street incident had been spotted nearby, Sky News reported. He was described as being black or Asian wearing a blue shirt with wires protruding from the top, Sky said. The incident there was later ``stood down,'' police said.
``The emergency services are getting control over a very confused scene. It's unclear as to what happened,'' Ian Blair said. ``We don't know the implications of all this yet and we'll have to examine the situation very carefully.''
Warren Street, Oval and Shepherds Bush stations were evacuated and five Underground lines were suspended: the Victoria, Northern and Hammersmith and City, Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines, a police spokeswoman said. Many stations were closed across those lines.
London Hospital
U.K. stocks and the pound pared gains after the subway stations were evacuated today.
Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard were informed as they dined at Blair's office, an Australian official told journalists standing in front of Blair's office. Blair delayed a press conference with Howard due at 2:15 p.m. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw entered Blair's office shortly after 2 p.m.
Defense Secretary John Reid, entering Blair's office at about 2:30 p.m., told reporters he was going to a meeting of the Cabinet's crisis management committee. Reid later left the meeting, as did Home Secretary Charles Clarke and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
July 7 Investigation
Blair today was due to meet senior police offices and representatives of security services to discuss powers to combat terrorism, amid indications terrorists in Pakistan are becoming a focus of the investigation into the July 7 bombings.
Police have identified four men they say were bombers in the July 7 incidents, three on underground trains and one on a bus. All of them died in the explosions.
No casualties have been reported from the incidents today, a spokeswoman for the Ambulance Service said, declining to be named. The emergency services were called at 12:38 p.m. to Oval station and at 12:45 p.m. to Warren Street station, she said.
``Londoners should now go about their business and use the transport system to get home,'' London Mayor Ken Livingstone said in a statement.'
One person was injured in the incidents, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said in an interview aired by Sky News. One device may have exploded while three others failed to go off properly, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
``We've just got to react calmly and continue with our business,'' U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said at a press conference at his Downing Street office. ``We know why these things are done. They're done to frighten people.''
The incidents today occurred simultaneously and at the four points of the compass, in a pattern resembling the July 7 terrorist attacks that killed 56 people. Today, Warren Street, Oval and Shepherds Bush Underground stations and a bus in east London were evacuated. Eyewitnesses told Sky that smoke appeared from a rucksack carried by a passenger in one subway carriage.
``There is nothing to indicate any kind of attack that involves chemicals or anything else,'' said Ian Blair of the police. ``It's broadly conventional. The situation is absolutely at the moment under control.''
The driver of the number 26 bus in Hackney, east London, heard a bang from the upper deck of the vehicle and said the windows were blown out, according to Steve Stewart, a spokesman for Stagecoach Plc, which operates public transport services. The bus is intact and there are no injuries, he said. The BBC said a split backpack was left on the floor of a bus.
Blair Informed
``There was a nasty burning rubber smell but no smoke,'' Caroline Russell, who was traveling on the subway at Warren Street, told the BBC in an interview today.
Police also cordoned off University College Hospital in central London today and sent an ``armed response'' unit there, police spokesman Steve Sherwood said in an interview. A memo was distributed to hospital employees indicating a suspect in the Warren Street incident had been spotted nearby, Sky News reported. He was described as being black or Asian wearing a blue shirt with wires protruding from the top, Sky said. The incident there was later ``stood down,'' police said.
``The emergency services are getting control over a very confused scene. It's unclear as to what happened,'' Ian Blair said. ``We don't know the implications of all this yet and we'll have to examine the situation very carefully.''
Warren Street, Oval and Shepherds Bush stations were evacuated and five Underground lines were suspended: the Victoria, Northern and Hammersmith and City, Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines, a police spokeswoman said. Many stations were closed across those lines.
London Hospital
U.K. stocks and the pound pared gains after the subway stations were evacuated today.
Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard were informed as they dined at Blair's office, an Australian official told journalists standing in front of Blair's office. Blair delayed a press conference with Howard due at 2:15 p.m. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw entered Blair's office shortly after 2 p.m.
Defense Secretary John Reid, entering Blair's office at about 2:30 p.m., told reporters he was going to a meeting of the Cabinet's crisis management committee. Reid later left the meeting, as did Home Secretary Charles Clarke and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
July 7 Investigation
Blair today was due to meet senior police offices and representatives of security services to discuss powers to combat terrorism, amid indications terrorists in Pakistan are becoming a focus of the investigation into the July 7 bombings.
Police have identified four men they say were bombers in the July 7 incidents, three on underground trains and one on a bus. All of them died in the explosions.
No casualties have been reported from the incidents today, a spokeswoman for the Ambulance Service said, declining to be named. The emergency services were called at 12:38 p.m. to Oval station and at 12:45 p.m. to Warren Street station, she said.
``Londoners should now go about their business and use the transport system to get home,'' London Mayor Ken Livingstone said in a statement.'