LONDON, 10 July 2005 — After the carnage and the initial shock of Thursday’s bombing outrage in London comes the cold sober reality of the terrorists’ modus operandi.
Anti-terrorist police, now assisted by Spanish counterparts who led the investigation into the Madrid bombings last year, are working on two theories — that the killer devices were detonated by a number of people at the same time, or they were triggered off by timing mechanisms set to go off simultaneously.
The fact that the bombs went off seconds from each other, according to the police, suggests that the most likely method of detonation was through timing devices.
At the same time Scotland Yard confirmed that work on “security and safety for the London Olympics in 2012 has already begun. Different agencies within the security services are working on a coordinated plan to pre-empt any terrorist attack on the Games.”
Yesterday morning Londoners were back at work, subdued by the loss of life, but determined to go about their business as usual. There were a number of alerts and evacuations in different parts of the City, largely due to the vigilance of Londoners reporting bags left alone and individuals acting suspiciously.
“It is intolerable that people should leave bags and packages lying around, especially after what happened on Thursday. These alerts have been due to people reporting these incidents,” warned Deputy Chief Constable Andy Trotter of the British Transport Police.
Thursday’s bombings were a highly organized and synchronized attack on the London Underground, confirmed Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick. As the massive nationwide and Europewide hunt for the perpetrators gained momentum, DAC Paddick revealed that all three bombs went off almost simultaneously at about 8.50 a.m. “within seconds of each other. It was only at 9.17 a.m. that the police received the first call that suggested that this was an explosion at the Edgware Road underground location. Previous calls were about incidents such as a person trapped under a train; or the system suffering a power surge.”
This is in contrast to earlier reports that the first bomb between Liverpool Street and Aldgate was detonated at 8.50 a.m. followed by the second between King’s Cross and Russell Square five minutes later; and the third at Edgware Road at 9.17 a.m.
Transport for London (TfL’s) sophisticated track computer software confirmed the chronology of the bombings based on the time when there was a blowout of the rail traction current system. This is when the internal telephone lines went down; and the electricity underground went off and affected the lights and the doors of the trains. These were confirmed at within seconds from each for all three blasts. TfL Chief Executive Tim O’Toole said that “the software allows us to confirm this. We have put on a full service as far as possible at first light.”
Police now confirm that the death toll is 50 with another 25 people missing. They warned that it is inevitable that the death toll would rise, given that several bodies from the King’s Cross incident have still to be removed and that there are over 70 critically injured victims.
Police also dismissed reports that a man with a bag acting suspiciously on the fateful No. 30 bus from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch was responsible for the detonation of the bomb, as “complete speculation.” The man reportedly is in a critical state in the Royal London Hospital, where most of the seriously injured were taken. “There is a possibility,” stressed DAC Paddick, however, “that the person who brought the bomb on to the bus may have died in the blast. Early evidence suggests that the device was in a bag rather than strapped to an individual.”
The preliminary investigation suggests that high explosives were used in the blasts, as opposed to “domestic” explosives such as fertilizer. Police refused to comment whether the explosives used were military, plastic or industrial.
