London bombings

20051230
• Pakistan - Religious - Schools - Politics - Terrorism - London bombings - UK - "Pakistan's Islamic schools resist expulsion order: · Ban on foreign students followed London bombs · Leaders claim Musharraf ruling is discriminatory." ... "Leaders of Pakistan's 13,000 madrasas have vowed to defy a government deadline to expel foreign students by December 31, saying the regulations discriminate against religious schools." ... "President Pervez Musharraf required Pakistan's madrasas to expel about 1,800 foreign students after the July 7 bombings in London highlighted the extremist links of some schools. Three of the London bombers were of Pakistani descent, and the Aldgate bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, attended a Lahore madrasa that has since been linked to Islamist militants." -By Imtiaz Gul -Guardian.co.uk

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20050707
• - Transport - London bombings - "London blasts: At a glance." ... "Blast timeline: 0851 Seven people die in a blast on a train 100 yards from Liverpool Street station." ... "0856 21 people die in a blast on a train between Russell Square and King's Cross stations 0917." ... "Five people die in blast on a train at Edgware Road station 0947." ... "An unknown number die in a blast on a bus at Tavistock Place."-BBC /News 

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• -  - London bombings - "Hundreds treated following blasts: Hospitals across London have treated significant numbers of casualties after blasts killed at least 38 people." ... "Police said 700 people were hurt in the four explosions, 300 of whom were taken to hospital by ambulance. Of these, 95 were left seriously injured." ... "Wounded people were assessed at triage minor injuries sites set up near the blasts, with the most serious being taken to nearby hospitals." ... "Public buses also took some of the wounded to hospital." ... "Many hospitals put their major incident plans into operation immediately after the blasts." ... "Under the measures, hospitals can call in off-duty staff and halt non-urgent surgery to free up theatres."-BBC /News 

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• -  -  - London bombings - "London under attack." ... "Once it had happened, it produced an awful feeling of inevitability. The series of terrorist attacks on London's Underground and bus system at the end of the morning rush hour on July 7th were presumably timed to coincide with the opening meetings of the G8 rich-country summit in Gleneagles in Scotland. The fact that less than a day earlier London had been filled with jubilation at having won the race to host the 2012 Olympic games may have given the perpetrators an extra dose of satisfaction. We shall never know, but nor, actually, should we care. Such a pointless display of brutality should instead bring forth two thoughts. One is that the surprise should be that this has not occurred sooner. The other is that such attacks should not, and will not, make any difference to the way Londoners live and work." ... "George Bush has sometimes claimed that a silver lining to the cloud his forces are struggling through in Iraq is that at least the West's enemies are being fought there rather than at home. The attacks in London are a reminder that that view is as wrong as it is glib." ... "Might the attacks affect Tony Blair's ability to keep British troops in Iraq presumably the terrorists' goal, if they are indeed related to al-Qaeda?" ... "Far likelier, the attacks will reinforce the case for pressing on with the long-term task, as defined by Mr Blair: the establishment of a stable democracy in Iraq, peace between Israel and Palestine, and democratic reform elsewhere in the Middle East. If that sounds rather close to Mr Bush's policy, that's because it is. No terrorists can change that." -Economist 

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• -  - London bombings - "The Terror in London." ... ""This is clearly an al-Qaida style attack. It was well-coordinated, it was timed for a political event and it was a multiple attack on a transportation system at rush hour," said Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies at King's College in London." ... "London Mayor Ken Livingstone said the blasts were "mass murder" carried out by terrorists bent on "indiscriminate ... slaughter."" ... ""This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty or the powerful ... it was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners," said Livingstone, in Singapore where he supported London's Olympic bid. Giselle Davies, an International Olympic Committee spokeswoman, said the committee still had "full confidence" in London." -By Jane Wardell -AP via -BusinessWeek

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• -  -  - Religion - London bombings - "The Message in the British Blasts: If radical Islamics are behind the bombings, it shows how far the war on terrorists has to go. It also shows the strength of the stricken." ... "Who's responsible for the bus and subway bombings in London on July 7 isn't clear yet. But if it turns out to be the work of Islamic militants, the message will be that after nearly four years of pursuing terrorists around the world, such groups are still very much with us and capable of wreaking havoc -- even in the heart of the British capital." ... "That's not to say the original al Qaeda group built around Osama bin Laden hasn't been badly damaged. It has." ... "But the radical Islamic movement has metastasized. Satellite groups are now spread around the world. Europe, which is nearer to the Middle East and has a far larger Islamic population than the U.S. has, is a hotbed of such groups." -By Stanley Reed and Laura Cohn edited by Beth Belton -BusinessWeek

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• - Transportation - "U.S. raises terror alert for transit systems: No reports of threats to U.S." ... "Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Thursday raised the alert level for the nation's mass transit systems to orange, or high, in response to the deadly bombings on London's transit system earlier in the day." ... ""The United States government is raising the threat level from code yellow, or elevated, to code orange, high, targeted only to the mass-transit portion of the transportation sector," Chertoff said. "I want to emphasize that: targeted only to the mass transit portion of the transportation sector."" ... "Security for American mass transit systems was reviewed and tightened after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks against the United States and the bombings of trains in Madrid in March of 2004." ... "But now, at the direction of President Bush, Chertoff said the Department of Homeland Security is "working with the Department of Transportation, our other federal partners, state and local officials, and transportation authorities to take all necessary precautions and to increase the security of our transportation systems and the citizens who ride them."" -CNN 

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• - Transport - Religion - "Britain launches search for bombers: Blasts kill at least 37, wound 700." ... "Britain has launched an intense search for those responsible for a series of four coordinated bombings Thursday in London's transport system that killed at least 37 people." ... "The Group of al Qaeda of Jihad Organization in Europe claimed responsibility in a Web site posting. The authenticity of the claim could not immediately be verified." ... "Blair stressed that the bombers did not reflect the views of most Muslims." ... ""We know that these people act in the name of Islam, but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent, law abiding people who abhor the act of terrorism every bit as much as we do," he said." -CNN 

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• - Transportation -  -  -  - "Four London Blasts Kill 40, Injure 700." ... "Four explosions rocked the London subway and tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday, sending bloodied victims fleeing in the worst attack on London since World War II. At least 40 people were killed, U.S. officials said, and more than 700 were wounded." ... "The four blasts went off within an hour, beginning at 8:51 a.m. (3:51 a.m. EDT), and hit three subway stations and the double-decker bus. Authorities immediately shut down the subway and bus lines that log 8.4 million passenger trips every weekday." ... "As the city's transportation system ground to a near-halt, buses were used as ambulances and an emergency medical station was set up at a hotel. Rescue workers, police and ordinary citizens streamed into the streets to help." -By Jane Wardell with contributions by Jill Lawless, Barry Renfrew, Emily Rotberg, Sarah Blaskovich, Emma Ross and Nick Mead -AP via -Guardian.co.uk

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