Bombs! Not Again

**lee_davies_drums_uk** · July 21st, 2005, 12:29 PM

This is terrible

TUBE EXPLOSION REPORTED
There have been unconfirmed reports of an explosion on the London Underground, and an incident on a bus in Hackney, East London.

Stations at Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush have been closed.

Scotland Yard could not confirm reports that armed police have entered University College Hospital in Bloomsbury near Warren Street station.

Men in chemical protection suits have been seen appearing to enter the station, where British Transport Police say one person has been injured.

Services on the Victoria, Northern and Hammersmith & City and Bakerloo Lines have been suspended.

Emergency services started receiving calls just after 12.30.

At Warren Street there were reports of shots and a nail bomb explosion. Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said police believe this may have been the sound of detonators going off.

Victoria Line train passenger Ivan McCracken told Sky News he spoke to an Italian man who witnessed an explosion just after the train arrived at the platform.

Bush in Hackney
Bush in Hackney

"He told me he had seen a man carrying a rucksack which suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open his rucksack. Everyone rushed from the carriage. People evacuated very quickly. There was no panic.

"I didn't see anyone injured but there was shock and fright.

"There was a smell of smoke."

"The man who was holding the rucksack looked extremely dismayed."

One witness told Sky News that passengers tried to prevent a man with a rucksack running away but they failed.

Police have cordoned off the streets around Warren Street station. Sky reporter Mark White said: "Police activity suggests that they are looking for somebody on the outside here."

Scotland Yard said emergency services responded to an "incident" on a Number 26 bus in Hackney Road, on a junction near Colombia Road, east London.

Stations affected
Stations affected

Bus operator Stagecoach said the driver heard a bang at around 1.30pm.

The bus had left Waterloo and was in Shoreditch when the incident happened.

"The driver heard a bang which appeared to come from the upper deck. When he went upstairs to investigate, the windows on the upper deck were blown out.

"The bus is structurally intact and we don't have any reports of injuries," said a spokesman.

Sky News Foreign Affairs editor Tim Marshall said: "There is a bus parked there which is empty and there is nobody anywhere near it. This does indicate that police think the bus is still dangerous."

Sky News Online's Rob Cole is at Shepherd's Bush. He said: "The whole of Shepherd's Bush Green is sealed off. About 400 metres on both sides of the Tube station is affected."

Network Rail say all mainline train services are running from London stations.

It is two weeks to the day since bombers attacked three Tube trains and a bus in central London.
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