Explosions in subway system & bus in London

[Brent]

London EMA holding a news conference... I'm counting 33 confirmed dead so far(the guy is listing them by incident).

4th incident: "Fatalities, but unknown numbers"

[Skywatch_NC]

Have been watching both Fox News and CNN since having gotten up this morning and my Mom first telling me about what has happened.

My prayers and thoughts with London, it's people, tourists, rescue and recovery teams, hospital staffs and Mr. and Mrs. Blair.

((((HUGS))))

Eric

[JTD]

I'm shocked and deeply devastated, I honestly thought AQ had pretty much been wiped out due to Afghanistan and Iraq.

This news took me by extreme surprise.

[TexasStooge]

What a heck of a way to start off the morning, hearing another terrorist attack on a major city.

[TexasStooge]

Death toll risen.

40 dead, 350 injured.

US Officials will be raising terror alert to code Orange for Mass Transit in wake of London Explosions.

[Skywatch_NC]

I'm shocked and deeply devastated, I honestly thought AQ had pretty much been wiped out due to Afghanistan and Iraq.

This news took me by extreme surprise.

Not to turn this political...but troops have taken out several Al Qaeda members since the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq have begun...but when there's Al Qaeda and other terrorist cells worldwide...there's even a Jihad group here in Raleigh and other cells elsewhere in the U.S. it's humanly impossible (short of an atomic attack...heaven forbid!) on containing and taking out ALL cell groups.

[USCG_Hurricane_Watcher]

DHS Sec. Chertoff will be holding a press conference any minute now...raising the threat level to orange for the nation's subways and rail lines...

[USCG_Hurricane_Watcher]

I'm shocked and deeply devastated, I honestly thought AQ had pretty much been wiped out due to Afghanistan and Iraq.

This news took me by extreme surprise.

Not a chance...Do you have Discovery Times on your cable line-up? There was an excellent show, Al-Queda 2.0...talked about how the organiztion dispersed to various locations around the globe, with one specific example in Bangledesh: In the middle of the night, in one of busiest ports, all maritime traffic seemingly stopped with the exception of one coastal freighter. The boat docked and hundreds of individuals disembarked, all wearing military-type uniforms and the majority carrying military assault rifles. All loaded up in trucks and departed, virtually disappearing into Bangladesh...from there, who knows where they went.

[TexasStooge]

Correction, now there are 360 injured.

[Stephanie]

My heart goes out to our friends "across the pond".

Our Director of Security sent out an e-mail about an hour ago to all of the employees about the code now being "Orange".

[CentralFlGal]

The terrorists claiming responsibility for this have said this:

"Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters."

I think people who are cowardly enough to inflict this kind of thing on innocent people are the very last individuals who should be going on about fear. What they have done is nothing short of despicable, and the fact that they have opted to do something like this shows what cowards they are.

James, I completely agree with you. The people who perpetrate these types of attacks are not mentally equipped to understand any words that happen to slip out of their mouths.

Your friends across the pond are standing with you.

[Brent]

My heart goes out to our friends "across the pond".

Our Director of Security sent out an e-mail about an hour ago to all of the employees about the code now being "Orange".

Only for trains and buses...

[Stephanie]

My heart goes out to our friends "across the pond".

Our Director of Security sent out an e-mail about an hour ago to all of the employees about the code now being "Orange".

Only for trains and buses...

Thanks! I think it should be for everything, IMHO.

[CentralFlGal]

On a related note (but not as serious as what Londoners are dealing with today), here's a story from New York's Daily News:

Secret 'gas' test staged at G. Central

BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The Federal Department of Homeland Security released gas in Grand Central Terminal last month in a secret study of how dangerous chemicals might flow through the landmark in a terrorist attack.
Nontoxic "tracer gases" were released into the terminal between June 26-30, as scientists from four national laboratories observed, including physicists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

"If there was some kind of emergency - smoke or who knows what - released in Grand Central Terminal, we want to know how it's going to move around and how best to evacuate it," Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. "Everybody knows that some kind of biological, chemical or radiological threat is something we have to plan for, and this is part of that planning."

The colorless, odorless gas was released at different times to determine, among other things, how the movement of people through the landmark building would affect the path of potentially harmful substances.

The information gathered from the tests was in part designed to improve emergency response planning for the terminal and provide data that could be used when assessing the security of other transportation hubs in the country. It also might be used to make protective alterations to the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system at Grand Central or lead to the use of technological devices under development, authorities said.

There are several devices in Grand Central that would detect the release of potentially deadly agents.

Approximately 750,000 people pass through Grand Central a day, including commuter rail riders, subway riders, shoppers and tourists.

Officials have long tagged Grand Central as a potential target because of its prominence as a landmark and the number of people who use it.

Police in March revealed that a simplistic drawing of Grand Central was found on the computer of a suspected Madrid train bomber, but officials described it as an amateur sketch and said they didn't believe it was part of a plan to launch an attack.

Originally published on July 7, 2005

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/325980p-278531c.html

[TexasStooge]

This just in, Injury count is up to 390.

[CentralFlGal]

By The Associated Press
18 minutes ago

A chronology of major terrorist attacks in England over the past three decades.

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• March 8, 1973: Two IRA car bombs explode outside London's Old Bailey courthouse and government's agriculture department headquarters, killing one and wounding more than 150.

• Oct. 5, 1974: Two IRA bombs explode in pubs in London suburb of Guildford; five dead, more than 50 injured.

• Nov. 21, 1974: Two IRA bombs in Birmingham kill 19 and wound more than 180.

• July 20, 1982: Two IRA bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in London kill 11 British soldiers and wound more than 40, mostly civilians.

• Dec. 17, 1983: IRA car bomb explodes outside Harrod's department store, killing six and wounding about 100.

• Oct. 12, 1984: IRA targets conference of ruling Conservative Party, killing five and wounding 24, but narrowly missing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

• Sept. 22, 1989: The IRA bombs the Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, killing 10 soldiers and wounding more than 30.

• Feb. 7, 1991: IRA fires three homemade mortar shells at No. 10 Downing Street, British prime minister's official residence in London. No injuries.

• April 10, 1992: Massive IRA truck bomb in London's financial district kills three and causes hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.

• March, 20, 1993: IRA bomb hidden in garbage can in shopping district of Warrington, northwest England, kills two boys aged 3 and 12.

• Feb. 9, 1996: IRA ends a 17-month cease-fire with a massive truck bomb in London's financial district, killing two.

• Feb. 18, 1996: An IRA bomber accidentally kills himself aboard a London double-decker bus, five injured.

• June 15, 1996: For first time, IRA targets a different English city — Manchester in the northwest — with a massive truck bomb, wrecking the central shopping area and wounding about 200.

• Sept. 20, 2000: IRA dissidents fire rocket-propelled grenaded at headquarters of MI5 security agency. No injuries.

• July 7, 2005: Four blasts rock the London subway system and a bus during the morning rush hour, killing at least 40 people, U.S. officials say. More than 360 people are wounded.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050707/ap_on_re_eu/explosions_glance_1

[Miss Mary]

I almost hate to say this outloud but I would not want to ride the Chunnel right now. My daughter did while in London with her school group. This was how they got to Paris. She said it was about 3 hours long. My thoughts went this direction as I was imagining the terror the lube/subway riders experienced today. I just would not want to ride the Chunnel - no way, I'd stay on soil.

I'm sure security is very tight for it though.

Mary

[USCG_Hurricane_Watcher]

Fox News is now reporting that London police are evacuating people from Victoria Station - suspicious package located.

[TexasStooge]

Injury count shot up to 700 now.


God bless the US and UK.

[mf_dolphin]

To our friends across the pond, thank you for your support and please know that we feel your pain now!