[aldo_14]

They were just showing pictures of the bus blown up in Woburn place.... it's pretty horrible, the walls of the surrounding buildings are covered in blood.

EDIt; this is reportedly a statement of responsibility posted on an Islamist website (from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4660391.stm);

[q] 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.

Nation of Islam and Arab nation: 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: "You who believe: If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly.[/q]

And on a side note; "Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters."

Bollocks.  They really are full of themselves, aren't they?

[Bobboau]

Originally posted by aldo_14
It'll be in the tens, but hopefully not hundreds, I think.  It seems that the blasts were on buses and on underground carriages; both in total i think don't carry enough for a massive death toll, and hopefully the nature of train carriages would have limited the effects of the blast to be upon (the poor sods in) a single carriage.

five trains in spain killed 300, I don't know if you'd call that massive or not, I'd say this could be half that.

oh, and fox news says 45 dead, 100 injured.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Bobboau


five trains in spain killed 300, I don't know if you'd call that massive or not, I'd say this could be half that.

Half is possible, I think (albeit the Madrid train bombings killed 191 and wounded >1,800).   In the Madrid bombings there were multiple bombs on the trains (some of which failed to go off, thankfully - they would have destroyed the station if they had). But what I hope is that the blasts were limited (on the underground) to a single carriage and hopefully contained somewhat by that.

But at the moment, I'm going solely on the reported injuries at hospitals, which are in the 100-200 range.  It could be much, much worse than even Madrid depending on how many bodies are left underground and uncounted.  I'm essentially hoping that I can make an optimistic guess and be right.

EDIT; obviously the only 2 fatalities confirmed (certain to rise), but the police have said there are 150 seriously injured and 'many more' walking wounded.

[karajorma]

The Madrid bombings were also followed up with secondary bombs designed to kill rescue workers IIRC.

[NGTM-1R]

Currently the number most folks seem to have picked up on is ITN's 45 killed.

I'm hearing that there were three bombs that didn't go off, too. Given the similarities, this is starting to look like Madrid all over again...

[Mefustae]

I'm really glad to see the cities' various emergency services handling the bombings so well, they've all pulled together and it would have been a lot worse without the cool handling of the Ambulance, Fire, and Police services - but then, i'm not really surprised with that, i mean London has always been patron to destructive forces that she does not deserve; the Blitz, the IRA, and now -this-

[redsniper]

I just heard about this on the radio and I'm terribly sorry that it happened to you guys. My condolences Britain.

[IceFire]

From what I understand off the news reports is that this was setup well in advance and likely not aimed at the Olympic London win but rather the G8 summit in Scotland which is a stones throw away in terrorist terms.

Al Qaeda exists in some fashion.  I did a school report on them long before all of this business with the USS Cole, the 911 attack and so on.  They are a loose organization of fundamentalist extremists who don't have too much in common with each other except that they were (probably) prepared for jihad against Iraq during the 1991 Kwait invasion and then had the US come in and spoil holy land or somethingorother.  It all has as much to do with Bin Laden family feuds in Saudi Arabia as it does with everything else...so its kind of a complicated and comple setup.  

And damn them for attacking London.

[Rictor]

Crap. Best wishes to all involved.

Though the timing (G8/Olypmic announcement) is wierd. If it was a terrorist attack, why now specifically? And I honestly don't believe it was anarchists, killing innocents at random just isn't part of the program.

Luckily, BBC is reporting only two deaths.

[Fineus]

I hate to bring bad news.. but Yahoo is reporting at least 40..

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/london_bombings

[aldo_14]

I've heard approx 5 confirmed deaths on the BBC.  I'd obviously expect that to rise as they recover bodies from underground.

Apparently, there were only 4 bombs (that affected 7 locations).  Still waiting for further info, though.

[Jeryko]

Ok, there was this live thing on ABC with the head of the fire brigaid, and police, and rescue and what not.

They said 4 confirmed blasts 33 confirmed fatalities and they said there are more in another area but havent confirmed the number.  They say there are 300+ with minor injuries and several with major (didn't hear that number)

Basically they are trying to comfort everyone and telling them to start thinking about the travel home.

[Ghostavo]

Kalfireth, in that article you linked, why are they asking US law enforcement officials rather than UK ones?

London survived much worse, it will survive this tragedy.

[IceFire]

Originally posted by Ghostavo
Kalfireth, in that article you linked, why are they asking US law enforcement officials rather than UK ones?

London survived much worse, it will survive this tragedy.

Yes...from what I understand, the blitz mentality from WWII and during the IRA bombings remains intact.

[Taristin]

****.

Where's Flipside? He's a Londoner, no? I hope he's aliright. HAven't seen a response from him yet.

[Rictor]

Hopefully he's just stuck in traffic somewhere. The entire subway is out of commision, so lot's of people are just stranded.

[phreak]

****ers

[vyper]

Unconfirmed reports that the Gartenavel (sp?) Hospital in Glasgow has been evacuated under bomb threat procedures. Not seen anything on the newswires, this come from a mate on the ground.

On the topic of London - if whoever did this actually think it'll have the effect of terrorising the British public, they need a history lesson. It just pisses us off.

[Rictor]

Say what?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Ghostavo
Kalfireth, in that article you linked, why are they asking US law enforcement officials rather than UK ones?

London survived much worse, it will survive this tragedy.

The US official said he was informed by UK police officials