Terror in the heart of London

LONDON — Terrorists ripped into the heart of the British capital in a series of apparently coordinated explosions during yesterday’s morning rush hour, killing at least 37 and injuring hundreds while bringing chaos to the city’s subways, bus systems and car-jammed streets.

London was already on the second-highest security alert because of the Group of Eight summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, but there was no warning of the carnage that began as about 3 million commuters streamed through summer wind and rain to their jobs in the British capital.

The first blast — a bomb purportedly triggered by a shadowy offshoot of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist organization — tore through a train 100 yards from Liverpool Street station in the city’s eastern sector at 8:51 a.m., killing at least seven persons.

Within the next 56 minutes, explosions also struck the underground rail stations at King’s Cross/Russell Square and Edgware Road, and a bomb blew the top off one of London’s famed double-decker buses, which was loaded with commuters who had just fled one of the subway attacks.

Shocked survivors found themselves escaping through scraps of confetti from the previous night’s celebration of London’s being awarded the 2012 Olympic Games.

By evening, Scotland Yard had put the official death toll at 37, and the number of injured was reported at more than 700 commuters and tourists. Authorities said both figures were destined to rise as rescue crews dug into the wreckage at the rail stations and the demolished bus.

Police were investigating whether suicide bombers were involved, but a senior U.S. intelligence official said in a briefing last night there was no evidence yet of suicide bombers or a remote-controlled device being used. He added that there was evidence of timing devices being used.

“I do have information that timing devices appear to have been used in some of the attacks,” he said.

A U.S. law-enforcement officer said British authorities had told him that at least 40 persons had died, and French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told the Reuters news agency that he had been advised by British Home Secretary Charles Clarke that the death toll was at least 50. Two young women from Knoxville, Tenn., were among those treated for injuries, said their father, Dudley Benton.

The highest death toll was 21 persons at the King’s Cross subway station, according to Scotland Yard. Seven were confirmed killed at Liverpool Street station, seven at Edgware Road station — the heart of a thriving Muslim community — and two on the bus.

It was the deadliest attack on London since World War II, far exceeding the tolls from a series of Irish Republican Army attacks spanning three decades until 2000.

ABC News last night quoted U.S. authorities as saying officials had discovered two more unexploded bombs and recovered timing devices from some of those that went off, potentially providing clues to the identity of the attackers.

The home secretary, who described the attacks as “mass murder,” said he would “find it difficult to believe” that the attacks were not linked to the opening of yesterday’s G-8 session in Scotland. It was attended by leaders of the world’s most-industrialized nations, including President Bush.

In Gleneagles, a visibly shaken Prime Minister Tony Blair, surrounded by leaders of the G-8 nations, appeared on television shortly after the blasts to tell the nation “it’s reasonably clear that there have been a series of terrorist attacks” in central London.

Mr. Bush told Americans that they must be “extra vigilant.” His administration ratcheted up the terror alert for mass transit to Code Orange, the second-highest level.

Story Continues →