UK: PROSPECT OF FIRST SUICIDE BOMB ATTACKS IN LONDON SNATCHES COMMUTERS' SENSE OF SECURITY

Record ID: 355627

  • Title: UK: PROSPECT OF FIRST SUICIDE BOMB ATTACKS IN LONDON SNATCHES COMMUTERS' SENSE OF SECURITY
  • Date: 13th July 2005
  • Summary: (W4) KING'S CROSS STATION, LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (JULY 12, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF KING'S CROSS TRAIN STATION WITH PEOPLE AROUND IT; PEOPLE WALKING PAST THE STATION 0.13 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMMUTER, LAURA SAYING: "What could possibly protect you on the underground if there are suicide bombers then it doesn't leave you with a lot of s
  • Embargoed: 28th July 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KING'S CROSS STATION, LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA2C3EOEY16SJPNB9442YM2EHZY
  • Story Text: The prospect of the first suicide bomb attacks in
    London snatches commuters' sense of security.




    The prospect of the first suicide bomb attacks in
    London snatches commuters' sense of security, the police's
    statement on Tuesday (July 12, 2005) is as close as they have
    come to confirming that Britain has suffered its first
    suicide bomb attack.

    Speculation that that was the case was prompted by an
    eye-witness on the bus who said he saw an "agitated"
    olive-skinned man rummaging in a rucksack.

    At least 52 people were killed in the bombings last
    Thursday (July 7) and 700 injured.

    For commuters such as Laura life is carrying on as
    usual, but the prospect of suicide bombers on public
    transport is an unsettling thought.

    "What could possibly protect you on the underground if
    there are suicide bombers, then it doesn't leave you with a
    lot of security knowing that anybody on the tube could be
    blowing themselves up and everyone else while they're at
    it," she said.

    "They are cowards, they're cowards. For somebody to do
    what they did last week, you know. So they've taken their
    own life as well but they're cowards because the
    devastation that is left with everyone else you know, we
    don't even know why they did it," said Sharon, another
    commuter at King's Cross.

    For other commuters such as Mark, the possibility of
    London's first suicide bombs is the worst news possible.

    "It's the worst thing that could ever happen to
    London. Think that suicide bombers are only interested in
    their own devices and their own means for their own
    particular cause and not considerate of the overall
    strategic view of peace, and they are interested more in
    their fundamentalists view and their attitudes towards life
    and human life is not important to them in any state or
    form anywhere in the world," he said as he made his daily
    trip home past King's Cross, one of the stations affected
    by the blast.

    Armed officers and Army bomb disposal experts took part
    in the raids on six properties, which began around 6.30am
    on Tuesday (July 12).

    Houses around the properties being searched were
    evacuated as a precaution and at one point armed police
    officers took up positions outside one of the properties in
    the Burley district, near the Leeds Grand Mosque, where a
    controlled explosion was carried out before the search.

    Police have been examining the theory that those
    responsible for Thursday's attacks could have been "away
    day" bombers, who arrived in the capital to plant the
    devices.

    It has also been suggested that the bombers started
    their grim mission from King's Cross station as all three
    Tube trains which were hit had passed through there on the
    morning of the blasts.

    The bus which was ripped apart by an explosion 57
    minutes after the Tube bombs detonated had also come from
    that direction.

    Today's operation, the first linked directly to the
    bombings, was announced shortly after 9am by Scotland Yard.

    Scotland Yard has launched its biggest manhunt yet to
    catch those responsible for Thursday's bombings.

    Hundreds of extra officers have been drafted in to
    assist the inquiry, which is being led by the Met's
    Anti-Terrorist branch.

    More than 1,700 people have called the anti-terrorist
    hotline since the attack, some providing specific
    information which police hope will lead to a breakthrough
    while the largest-ever trawl of CCTV footage is also under
    way, with officers poring over hundreds of hours of tape in
    the hope that one of the bombers has been caught on camera.


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