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On Thursday 7 July 2005, a series of four bomb explosions struck London's public transport system during the morning rush hour. At 8:50 AM, three bombs exploded within one minute, on three London Underground trains. A fourth bomb exploded on a bus at 9:47 AM in Tavistock Square. Fifty-two people are confirmed dead, with 700 injured. About 350 required treatment, of whom 22 were listed in serious or critical condition. The number of missing passengers currently stands at 25 - four bodies have been formally identified from the bus blast and one from the train blasts.

The incidents led to the almost immediate complete shutdown of the London Underground network and the closure of many roads near the affected stations. Mainline train services into many London stations terminated outside the city for most of the day, and the city's bus network was shut down in the central zone (Zone 1).

The bombings came while the UK hosted the first full day of the 31st G8 summit at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, a day after London was chosen to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, and two days after the trial of radical cleric Abu Hamza had started in London.

The incident was the deadliest single act of terrorism in the United Kingdom since 270 died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie.

The bombings are thought to have been carried out by Islamist terrorists based in the United Kingdom, possibly affiliated with al-Qaeda. Investigators have identified four men, three from West Yorkshire, who are thought to have carried out the bombings and died in the attacks.

Bombings

A few hours after the bombings, Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the House of Commons that four blasts had been confirmed: three explosions took place on the London Underground in central London and one on a double-decker bus during London's rush hour.

Two more suspicious packages were found on underground trains and were destroyed using controlled explosions. Police later said they were not bombs.

Attacks on the Underground

08:50 Three bombs on the London Underground exploded within fifty seconds of each other

• One bomb exploded on a Circle Line sub-surface underground train number 204 eastbound between Liverpool Street and Aldgate. The bomb exploded about eight minutes after the train left Kings Cross, where it is thought the bomber boarded the train. The explosion took place 100 yards into the tunnel on the third carriage of the train. The parallel track of the Hammersmith and City Line from Liverpool Street to Aldgate East was also damaged.
• A second bomb exploded on the second carriage of a Circle Line sub-surface underground train number 216 westbound at Edgware Road. The bomb exploded about eight minutes after the train left Kings Cross, where it is thought the bomber boarded the train. The train had just left platform 4 at Edgware Road and was heading for Paddington. There were several other trains near the explosion. An eastbound Circle Line train (arriving at platform 3 at Edgware Road from Paddington) was passing the other train at the time of the explosion and was damaged. There were also reports of damage to a wall which collapsed. There were also two other trains at Edgware Road, an unidentified train on platform 2, and an eastbound Hammersmith and City Line train that had just arrived at platform 1.
• A third bomb exploded on a Piccadilly Line deep-level underground train number 311 southbound between King's Cross St. Pancras and Russell Square. The bomb exploded about one minute after the train left Kings Cross, where it is thought the bomber boarded the train. The explosion took place at the rear of the first carriage of the train, causing severe damage to the rear of this carriage and the front of the second one. There was damage to the surrounding tunnel as well.

There were fewer explosions than first thought, as two blasts occurred on trains that were between stations. In such cases, the wounded emerged from both stations, giving the impression that there was an incident at each station. Police also revised the timings of the tube blasts: initial reports had indicated that they occurred over a period of almost half an hour.

It is not clear whether the devices were triggered by a timer or were suicide attacks, although the police have suggested that the bombers themselves died in the attacks, making suicide a more likely option.

The effects of the bombs on the trains are thought to have varied due to the differing characteristics of the Underground network's tunnels. The central portion of the network comprises two types of tunnels:

1. Sub-surface lines (e.g. the Circle Line) – these lines are only a short distance underground, up to about 7 m (21 ft), and are constructed by excavating a trench and roofing it over ("cut and cover"). The sub-surface tunnels are relatively wide with two parallel tracks. The explosions on the Circle Line were likely to have been able to vent out into the tunnel, reducing their force.
2. Deep lines (e.g. the Piccadilly Line) – these lines can be over 30 m (approximately 100 ft) underground and are single-track circular tubes into which trains fit with only a narrow clearance on all sides. The Piccadilly Line tunnel is only 3.5m (11 ft) wide with clearances of only 15 cm (6 in). The blast was thus likely to have been much more concentrated, resulting in a greater degree of damage.

Attack on a double-decker bus

• 09:47 — An explosion occurs on a No. 30 double-decker bus operated by Stagecoach London travelling its route from Marble Arch to Hackney Wick. Earlier, the bus had passed through the Kings Cross area as it travelled from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch. At the time of the explosion the bus was on the return route from Marble Arch to Hackney Wick. It was following a diversion from its normal route, because of road closures in the Kings Cross area (due to the earlier tube bombings), and was travelling through Tavistock Square. People who had been evacuated from the Underground boarded the bus. It is not clear when the bomber boarded the bus.

The explosion ripped the roof off the top deck of the vehicle and destroyed the back of the bus. Witnesses reported seeing "half a bus flying through the air".

The detonation took place close to the British Medical Association (BMA) building on Upper Woburn Place, and a number of doctors in or near the building were able to provide immediate emergency medical assistance. BBC Radio 5 and The Sun newspaper later reported that two injured bus passengers said that they saw a man exploding in the bus. One passenger who disembarked from the bus at the stop prior to the explosion reported seeing an agitated young man who kept dipping into his bag every few moments, giving an indication of a possible intentional suicide bombing. It has been suggested that this may have represented a bomber realising that his device was about to explode prematurely, and police have suggested that one of the bombers did in fact die on the bus, as the belongings of one of the suspects have been found in the vicinity of the explosion. It is not clear whether the explosion was accidental or a suicide attack.

The bus bomb exploded towards the rear of the vehicle's top deck, totally destroying that portion of it but leaving the front of the bus surprisingly intact. Most of the passengers at the front of the top deck are believed to have survived, as did those on the front of the lower deck including the driver, but those at the top and lower rear of the bus took the brunt of the explosion. The extreme physical damage caused to the victims' bodies resulted in a lengthy delay in announcing the death toll from the bombing while the police determined how many bodies were present. A number of passers-by were also injured by the explosion and surrounding buildings were damaged by fragments.

Casualties

Senior official sources have confirmed that more than 52 people — all civilians — have been killed. However, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair told reporters that the authorities were having "great difficulty" determining the death toll as at least one blast site (King's Cross) remains not fully accessible by the police. On 9 July police announced that none of the dead had yet been formally identified, due to the condition of the remains recovered to date. Late on 10 July the police announced that all remains had been recovered. The first fatality to be formally identified was Susan Levy, 53, of Newgate Street Village. Scotland Yard is working to narrow a list of some 1000 persons reported missing.

On July 10, Prime Minister Blair announced that some 74 families had been assigned family liaison officers, which was taken to imply that the death toll would rise to around that number.

At least 90 injuries were reported from Aldgate Station alone. Ninety-five of the injured were taken to the Royal London Hospital where they were treated; 17 were in critical condition. Many others were being treated at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. Individuals who were wounded and walking were treated at the scene; an eyewitness reported that they were "operating on injured people on the concourse at Liverpool Street station."

Paramedics were sent down into the tube system to search for more casualties. St. John Ambulance was called out to assist the London Ambulance Service, and hospitals had to call in off-duty staff, plus doctors from as far afield as Hampshire and Oxfordshire. The ticket hall and waiting area of Kings Cross station was used as a temporary hospital for the victims of the Piccadilly Line explosion. Air ambulances were used extensively to provide rapid transportation of specialist medics to the scenes of the explosions. A number of London buses were also used to transport the "walking wounded" to hospital.

At a press conference on 8 July it was revealed that of 700 people injured in the explosions, 350 were treated on the spot, 350 people (208 at Royal London Hospital alone ) were treated in hospital and 100 of them were kept in hospital overnight. 22 were in a serious or critical condition, and one person subsequently died. Many of the injured were foreign nationals, including people from Sierra Leone, Australia, South Africa, Colombia, Poland and China, causing some language difficulties in the hospitals.

The retrieval of bodies from the Piccadilly Line tunnel was hampered by dangerous conditions, including asbestos, rats and temperatures that reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). Because it is a single line tunnel, there was little room for workers to pass on the outside of the train, therefore they had to work their way through the wreckage of the train, or approach it the long way along the tunnel from Russell Square. There were also concerns that the deep tunnel might be unstable; although in a press conference on 9 July, authorities said there has been no long-term damage to tunnels at any of the sites.

Police sources have reportedly suggested that three of the four suspected bombers are thought to have died in the explosions.

Identified casualties

The following fatalities have been formally identified:

• Susan Levy, 53, of Newgate Street Village, Hertfordshire, on the Piccadilly line train.
• Jamie Gordon, 31, of Enfield (North London), on the bus.
• Philip Stuart Russell, 29, of Kennington (South London), on the bus.
• 2 other people killed at Tavistock Square have been identified but not publicly named until their inquest opens on 13 July, at their relatives' request.

The bombings in context

The bombings were the deadliest attack in London since a V2 rocket attack of 27 March 1945, near the end of the Second World War, in which 131 people were killed in Stepney. They were the deadliest post-World War II incident of any sort in the capital since the Harrow & Wealdstone station rail crash of 1952 (112 dead).

They were the second most-deadly terrorist attack in the UK, after the Lockerbie bombing (270 dead) and well ahead of the 1998 Omagh bombing (29 dead) and the 1974 Birmingham pub bombing (21 dead). They constitute one of the deadliest incidents in the history of the London Underground, alongside the Moorgate tube crash of February 1975 (43 dead) and the Kings Cross fire of November 1987 (31 dead). The London Underground has been targeted by terrorists before. Over February and March 1976 the Irish Republican Army launched a bombing campaign which saw several explosive devices being left across the tube network. On March 4th eight people were injured by a bomb exploding in Cannon Street, nine people were injured by an explosion at West Ham underground station on March 15th. Seconds after that incident the driver of the train was shot dead when he attempted to pursue the bomber as he ran away from the scene. Two more devices found at Oxford Circus and Wood Green stations were defused.

The attacks constituted the most concentrated terrorist attack on a city in the United Kingdom (in terms of the number of individual explosions) since Bloody Friday in Belfast in July 1972 (22 bombs planted). In terms of the number of fatalities inflicted, they were the worst attack on a mass transit system anywhere in the world since the Madrid train bombings of 11 March 2004 (191 dead), although the March 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway injured far more people.

There has only been one previous bomb attack on a London bus in recent times, on 18 February 1996 at Wellington Street near Aldwych, in which the only fatality was the Provisional Irish Republican Army member transporting the device. Security forces are confident this was not intended as a suicide attack but resulted from the accidental detonation of a bomb he intended to plant elsewhere.

Investigation

Police are examining CCTV footage and forensic evidence from the scenes of the attacks, looking for, among other things, DNA evidence. It was disclosed on 10 July that the CCTV camera on the bus had not been working since June. However in another report, investigators were making efforts to recover images of the CCTV camera from the remains of the bus.

It is believed that each of the four bombs consisted of ten pounds of military high explosives, possibily the explosive RDX. The bombs were likely placed on the floor of the trains and bus. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair stated there was no evidence that the bombings were suicide attacks.

On July 11, The Independent newspaper reported that police had identified 30 foreign and British-born Al-Qaeda sympathizers as potential suspects. Among the suspects is the man believed to have organized the Madrid train attacks, Mustafa Setmariam Nasar.. The paper quoted former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens as saying:

will be apparently ordinary British citizens, young men conservatively and cleanly dressed and probably with some higher education. Highly computer literate, they will have used the internet to research explosives, chemicals and electronics.

They are also willing to kill without mercy - and to take a long time in their planning.

A police press conference on 12 July provided further details on the progess of the investigation. Investigators are focusing on a group of four men, three from Leeds, West Yorkshire. All four arrived in London on the morning of 7 July and were recorded on CCTV at Kings Cross Station (the London terminus serving Yorkshire) at about 8.30 am. Property associated with three of the men was found near the site of the three Tube explosions, while property associated with the fourth man was found near the bombed bus. All four are believed to have died in the bombings, with the three Tube explosions thought to have been suicide bombings. Police raided six properties in the Leeds area on 12 July: two houses in Beeston, West Yorkshire, two houses in Thornhill, West Yorkshire, one house in Holbeck and one house in Burley, Leeds. One man was arrested. A vehicle thought to be associated with the bombings was found at Luton railway station and subjected to a controlled explosion.

According to West Yorkshire police, a "significant amount" of explosive material was found in the raids in Leeds and a controlled explosion was carried out at one of the properties.

Initial reports: power surge

The first reports suggested that a power surge in the Underground power grid had caused explosions in power circuits. However, this was later ruled out by the National Grid, the power suppliers. Commentators suggested that the explanation had arisen because of bomb damage to power lines along the tracks; the rapid series of power failures caused by the explosions looked similar, from the point of view of a control room operator, to a cascading series of circuit breaker operations that would result from a major power surge. Other commentators have suggested that the "power surge" explanation was deliberately suggested by transport authorities in order to minimise commuter panic and enable the tube network to be cleared of passengers safely.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair stated within a couple of hours of the explosions that he believed that they were "probably a major terrorist attack". He also indicated that police had found indications of explosives at one of the blast sites, though he would not speculate on who might have carried out the attack.

Claim of responsibility

At around 12:10 7 July, BBC News reported that a website known to be operated by associates of al-Qaeda had been located with a 200-word statement claiming responsibility for the attacks. The newsmagazine Der Spiegel in Germany and BBC Monitoring both reported that a group named "Secret Organization—al-Qaeda in Europe" had posted an announcement claiming responsibility on the al-Qal3ah ("The Castle") Internet forum. The announcement claims the attacks are a response due to the British involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The letter also warned other governments involved in Iraq (mentioning specifically Denmark and Italy) to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. A Saudi commentator in London noted that the statement was grammatically poor, and that a Qur'anic quotation was incorrect. This has been disputed.

The attacks bear similarities to the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings and suggest an attack in the style of al-Qaeda. Budapest-based security analyst Sebestyén Gorka told the Reuters wire service that "the first thing that's very obvious is the synchronized nature of the attacks, and that's pretty classic for Al-Qaeda or organizations related to al-Qaeda."

Al-Qaeda involvement is considered likely, as it follows their pattern:

• Bombs were detonated nearly simultaneously;
• No warnings were given by the perpetrators;
• The bombs were detonated early in the day to catch the news; and
• The bombs were detonated at a time and location designed to inflict maximum death and injury to a civilian population.

Arguments against Al-Qaeda involvement:

• No known suicide bombers were involved in the attacks;
• The scale of the bombings were limited in comparison to previous Al-Qaeda attacks that occurred 11 September 2001 in America and the bombings that occurred 11 March 2004 in Madrid, Spain;
• Islamist web sites that claimed responsibility for the bombings in London are unreliable.

According to former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens, the bombers were almost certainly born or based in Britain. The attacks would have required extensive preparation and prior reconnaissance efforts, and a familiarity with bomb-making and the London transport network as well as access to significant amounts of high-grade explosives. The most likely suspects are said to be individuals who had been to the al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan prior to 2001. As many as 3,000 British born or based people are thought to have been trained in the camps and may since have trained others.

Some newspaper editorials in Iran, however, have blamed the bombing on British or American authorities seeking to further justify their War on Terrorism, and have claimed that the plan that included the bombings also involved increasing harassment of Muslims in Europe.

Translated statement

Within hours after the attack, a person using the name "Nur al-Iman" and identified as a "new guest," posted a statement on the Qal3ah website which claimed responsibility on behalf of "The Secret Organisation Group of Al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in Europe". The following is a translation of the statement:

In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate, may peace be upon the cheerful one and undaunted fighter, Prophet Muhammad, God's peace be upon him.

Nations of Islam and Arab nations: Rejoice, for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic Mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters.

We have repeatedly warned the British government and people. We have fulfilled our promise and carried out our blessed military raid in Britain after our Mujahideen exerted strenuous efforts over a long period of time to ensure the success of the raid.

We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all the crusader governments that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. He who warns is excused.

God says: "If ye will aid (the cause of) God, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly"

The quotation at the end of the statement is from the Qur'an, in Sura 47:7(). The translation of the quotation given here is by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

The term ghazw, here translated as "raid", has historically often been used in Islamic contexts with the connotations of an attack on the enemies of an Islamic state seen as a meritorious act; those who carry out such attacks (ghazawāt) are called ghāzīs.

Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade

A second claim of responsibility was posted on the Internet on 9 July, claiming the attacks for another Al Qaeda-linked group, Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade. The group has previously falsely claimed responsibility for events that were the result of technical problems, such as the 2003 London blackout and 2003 North America blackout. They have also claimed authorship of the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

Warnings

Some news stories current a few hours after the attacks raised a query over the official position that there had been no warning or prior intelligence. It was reported on CBS News that a senior Israeli official said that British police told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before the explosions that they had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city. This was later retracted by AP. An Associated Press report carried on a number of news sites, including The Guardian, attributed the initial report of a warning to an Israeli "Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity," but added Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's later denial on Israel Army Radio: "There was no early information about terrorist attacks." A similar report on the site of right-wing Israeli paper Israel National News / Arutz Sheva attributed the story to "Army Radio quoting unconfirmed reliable sources." Although the report has been retracted, the earlier version continues to be circulated. On the basis of this pre-explosion warning Israeli Finance Minister and former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, changed his plan from speaking at an economics conference to staying in his hotel, which was in the vicinity of one of the explosions, see Yahoo News .

In an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Publico a month after the Madrid train bombings, Syrian-born cleric Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad warned that "a very well-organized" London-based group which he called Al Qaeda Europe, was "on the verge of launching a big operation". In December 2004, the Sheik vowed that if Western governments did not change their policies, Muslims would give them "a 9/11, day after day after day."

According to a November 17, 2004 post on the Newsweek website, US authorities in 2004 had evidence that terrorists were planning a possible attack in London. In addition, the article stated that FBI agents were avoiding use of the London Underground.

Reaction

Security alerts

Although there were security alerts at many locations, no other terrorist activities occurred outside central London:

• Security alerts were reported at Brighton, Luton, Birmingham and Swindon as well as other locations. In Brighton there was a controlled explosion of a suspicious briefcase at approximately 12:55 in a telephone box outside Brighton station. The briefcase was later found to be harmless, and the station was re-opened. In Birmingham, on July 9, the city centre was evacuated by police and a package on a bus was detonated. East Croydon station was closed due to a suspect package, but was later re-opened. There were reports of Victoria Station being cordoned off by police amid reports of a ‘suspicious package’ on a bus near the station.
• There were reports of a controlled explosion at Coventry bus station, as well as two controlled explosions carried out on a Lothian Buses double-decker on Princes Street in the centre of Edinburgh at around 17:30; neither contained explosives.
• In Poole, the train station was also closed in response to the discovery of a suspicious package. The package was later detonated by Police in a controlled explosion. In Cardiff, the train and bus stations were closed after a security alert. There were bomb scares in Sheffield City Centre, and in Nottingham City Centre, with Market Square being sealed off at 22:00.
• In Portsmouth the Portsmouth Harbour train station and the nearby Hard bus interchange were closed for a few hours following a hoax bomb threat. Ian Tebbut was subsequently jailed for 6 months.
• Prime Minister of France Dominique de Villepin announced that France had increased its level of terror alert to red, the second-highest level, in response to the events in London.
• Meanwhile, Berlin transport officials indicated that security alert levels for the public transport system of the German capital had been raised to yellow, the second of four levels.
• Spanish Interior Minister José Antonio Alonso has raised the level of antiterrorist prevention and protection alert to level 3 (three), the highest level. This implies the use of all security forces in the country patrolling public transports and others mass confluence sites. For example, militars are patrolling in commuter trains in Madrid.
• In Singapore, where the 2012 Summer Olympic bids has been held a day earlier as part of the 117th IOC Session, security measures for the public transport system were stepped up quickly particularly in light of a high number of foreign delegates still in the city at the time of the attacks in London. Armed policemen began patrolling within MRT stations, as well as at bus terminals. Plans were made to introduce CCTVs to every train and bus, amongst a host of other security measures.
• In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security raised the terror alert level to orange, specifically for mass transit in large cities. Seattle, for example, had Seattle police and King County sheriffs patrolling at each stop in the downtown bus tunnel.
• In Denmark, at least two controlled explosions were carried out in the week efter the incident. Both incidents showed to be left luggage. One of these controlled explosions took place on July 11 at Amalienborg Palace, the recidence of the Royal Family. Generally, police patrol activity in public transportion areas was increased significantly after the incident.
• On 11 July it became known that commanders at US airbases in East Anglia had issued orders immediately after the bombings forbidding servicemen from travelling within the M25 motorway until further notice, and strongly discouraged family members not subject to their orders from doing so . The orders were revoked by higher authority on 12 July once they became generally known.

Transport and telecoms disruption

Vodafone reported that its mobile phone network reached capacity at about 10:00 on the day of the incident, and it was forced to initiate emergency procedures to prioritise emergency calls (ACCOLC). Other mobile phone networks have also reported failures. The BBC had speculated that the phone system has been closed by the security services to prevent the possibility of mobile phones being used to trigger bombs. Although this option was considered, it was later revealed that the intermittent unavailability of both mobile and landline phone systems was due to excessive usage.

For most of the day, London's public transport system was effectively crippled because of the complete closure of the underground system, the closure of the Zone 1 bus networks, and the evacuation of Russell Square. Bus services restarted at 4pm the same day, and most main-line train stations reopened shortly after. Tourist river vessels were pressed into service to provide a free alternative to the overcrowded trains and buses. Thousands of people chose to walk home or make their way to the nearest Zone 2 bus or train station. Most of the Underground aside from the affected stations restarted the next morning, though some commuters chose to stay at home.

Much of Kings Cross station was also closed, with the ticket hall and waiting area being used as a makeshift hospital to treat casualties on the spot. Although the station reopened later in the day, only suburban rail services were able to use it, with Intercity trains terminating at Peterborough (the service was fully restored the following Saturday). The Underground station at Kings Cross remains open only to Metropolitan Line services in order to facilitate the ongoing recovery and investigation effort. St. Pancras Station, located next to Kings Cross, was shut on Thursday afternoon with all Midland Mainline trains terminating in Leicester disrupting services to Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby.

Economic impact

There were limited immediate reactions to the attack in the world economy as measured by financial market and exchange rate activity. The pound fell 0.89 cents to a 19-month low against the U.S. dollar. However, stock markets fell less than some had feared. The FTSE 100 Index fell by about 200 points in the two hours after the first attack. This was its biggest fall since the start of the war in Iraq, and triggered the stock market's special measures, restricting panic selling and aimed at ensuring market stability. However, by the time the market closed it had recovered to only 71.3 points (1.36 per cent) down on the previous day's three-year closing high. Markets in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain also closed about 1 per cent down on the day.

US market indexes rose slightly, in part because the dollar index rose sharply against the pound and Euro. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 31.61 to 10,302.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.01 to 2075.66. The Standard & Poor S&P 500 Index rose 2.93 points to 1197.87 after declining up to 1 per cent. Every benchmark gained 0.3 per cent.

The markets picked up again on 8 July as it became clear that the damage caused by the bombings was not as great as initially thought. By close of trading the market had fully recovered to above its level at start of trading on 7 July. Insurers in the UK tend to reinsure their terrorist liabilities in excess of the first £ 75,000,000 with Pool Re, a mutual insurer set up by the government with leading insurers. Pool Re has substantial reserves and newspaper reports indicate that claims will be easily covered.

On 9 July, the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority revealed that they had instigated contingency plans immediately after the attacks to ensure that the UK financial markets could keep trading. This involved the activation of a "secret chatroom" on the British Government's Financial Sector Continuity website. , that allowed the institutions to communicate with the country's banks and market dealers.

Response from public figures

There were many responses to the attacks from within Great Britain and from around the world. See Response to the 2005 London bombings.

Media response

Rolling news coverage of the attacks were broadcast throughout 7 July, by both BBC 1 and ITV 1 (the main channels in the UK). ITV cancelled a broadcast of the film The X Files at midnight on 9 July, which featured an explosion at a Federal building caused by a bomb. Another film, Stakeout, was shown instead. The following evening, the terrorism-themed action film The Siege, originally scheduled for a 10:15pm broadcast on ITV1, was replaced by Gone in Sixty Seconds.

Sky One replaced the advertised episode of their documentary series "Conspiracies" on 10 July. The planned episode was due to focus on the Lockerbie bombing. It was replaced with an episode that focused on the Siege of Waco instead. Meanwhile, the network removed references to terrorism when broadcasting an episode of WWE Smackdown. The episode was taped two days before the attacks.

The bbc.co.uk website recorded an all time bandwidth peak of 11Gb/sec at 12pm on July 7th. BBC News received some 1 billion total hits on the day of the event (including all images, text and HTML), serving some 5.5 terabytes of data.

Press photographs of a victim of the attacks, Davinia Turrell, being assisted by former firefighter Paul Dadge, became iconic of the attacks. See Woman in the mask.

Some journalists used the event to attack politicians. Tariq Ali in The Guardian and Robert Fisk in The Independent wrote that the attacks were a consequence of the Iraq War (though neither were representative of the general output of those newspapers). In The Sun Richard Littlejohn attacked Ken Livingstone and Cherie Blair for supposed support of terrorists . Fox News were widely criticised for using the event to attack "cowardly liberals" and "anti-American press" while one editor claimed his first reaction was to buy shares and another attacked the French stating that nobody would care about a terrorist attack on Paris .

Retaliatory attacks

Following the bombing there were a series of attacks on mosques and other Muslim targets across Britain. Arson and other damage have been reported in Tower Hamlets and Merton, both in London, Telford, Leeds, Bristol and Bradford. A mosque in Birkenhead was firebombed by two white men, trapping the assistant imam in an upstairs bedroom. He was rescued by firefighters. In Nottingham, a 48-year-old man from Pakistan died after what police are treating as a racially aggravated attack. Six people were arrested in connection with the attack.

Timeline

See Timeline of the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

Relief Organizations

British Red Cross relief fund

A relief fund has been set up for victims of the bombings and donations can be made at the British Red Cross website

Contact numbers

Special contact numbers were issued for those trying to find friends or relatives.

• Casualty Hotline (Metropolitan Police): 0870 156 6344 (UK)   +44 870 156 6344 (International)
• Metropolitan Police: 020 7766 6020 (UK)   +44 20 7766 6020 (International)
• British Transport Police: 020 8358 0101 (UK)   +44 20 8358 0101 (International)
• Those outside the UK should see the list of Foreign Ministry contact details.
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark has established an emergency number for relatives and friends of missing Danes: +45 3392 1112 (International)

People with information regarding the bombings were asked to report it to the following number.

• Home Office anti-terrorist hotline 0800 789 321 (UK)

Scotland Yard requested that members of the public with video or images on mobile phones or otherwise send them to

See also

Template:Wikinewshas

• 7 July 2005 London bombings/images
• Casualties of the 7 July 2005 London bombings
• Response to the 2005 London bombings
• 7 July 2005 London bombings memorials and services

Similar incidents

This list of incidents consists those of a large nature which have had significant national or international implications. They are attacks on infrastructure, civilians, or involving an element of public transportation. They are presented here for comparison, and to provide a context for the July 7 2005 London bombings.

• Bologna Central Station (2 August 1980)
• Pan Am Flight 103 (21 December 1988)
• Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway (20 March 1995)
• Islamist terror bombings in France (July – October 1995)
• 1996 IRA London bus bomb (February 1996)
• 9/11 attacks in the United States (11 September 2001)
• Netanya suicide attack (27 March 2002)
• 2002 Bali bombing (12 October 2002)
• Jerusalem bus 20 massacre (21 November 2002)
• Casablanca Attacks (16 May 2003)
• Jerusalem bus 2 massacre (19 August 2003)
• Moscow Metro bombing (6 February 2004)
• Madrid train bombings (11 March 2004)

External links and references

News articles

• BBC In-depth report. Retrieved July 12 2005.
• BBC London blasts: At a glance. Retrieved July 12 2005.
• BBC July 7 Web Archives. BBC News Home Pages: | bbc.co.uk homepages
• CanWest Interactive Inc. Terror Hits London. Retrieved 12 July 2005.
• CNN Police: Bomber 'very likely' died. Retrieved 12 July 2005.
• The Guardian Unlimited 2 bombers died in blasts, police say. Retrieved 12 July 2005.
• Sky News London Bombers traced. Retrieved 12 July .
• The Economist Breakthroughs in the hunt for the bombers. Retrieved 12 July 2005.
• The Times Online Controlled explosion at home raided by anti-terror police. Retrieved 12 July 2005.

Analysis

• Middle East history professor Juan Cole believes it is unlikely the bombers were British.

Photos and videos

• Alfies Discotastic Moblog London Underground bombing, trapped. Retrieved 9 July 2005.
• Flickr 7/7 Community (formerly London Bomb Blasts) / Pool. Retrieved 9 July 2005.
• Google Earth Hacks Forums Locations of the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July 2005.. Retrieved 9 July 2005. (KML map file)
• JimLahey London Attacks 2005. Retrieved 9 July 2005.
• PhotoDuck London Bombings London terrorist attacks London Bombing News Photos. Retrieved 9 July 2005.

• Current events
• London history
• Terrorist incidents in 2005
• Terrorism in the United Kingdom
• Terrorist incidents on railway systems
• Al-Qaeda