LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) – A number of people were killed in
a series of explosions on London’s transport system at rush hour
on Thursday morning, causing chaos in the British capital,
police and transport officials said.
Here are some quotes from analysts and eyewitnesses:
ROLF TOPHOVEN, DIRECTOR OF THE TERRORISM RESEARCH INSITUTE
IN ESSEN, GERMANY
“London is a centre of Islamist propaganda in Europe. There
have been permanent, massive threats since the involvement of
the British government in the Iraq war. Let’s not forget that
the main enemy for the Islamists is the United States, and
that’s not just since Sept. 11, 2001 and Tony Blair is the
closest ally of George W. Bush, so from that point of view it
makes sense to hit the closest ally of the USA. This is another
parallel with Madrid.”
SEBESTYEN GORKA, SECURITY ANALYST:
“The first thing that’s very obvious is the synchronised
nature of the attacks, and that’s pretty classic for al Qaeda or
al Qaeda-related organisations. If we’re talking about several
attacks on one day, then there’s a good likelihood we’re talking
about a known quantity here…The similarities to Madrid are
clear.”
ROLF TOPHOVEN, GERMAN SECURITY ANALYST:
“There are lots of parallels with the Madrid blast…We have
to assume it’s a terrorist attack.”
CHRIS BELLAMY, TERRORISM EXPERT, TO SKY NEWS:
“It has the coordination and the simultaneity of one group
in particular, although it’s too early to say. What we may be
talking about here is not suicide bombers but just packages left
on trains. It is the softest of targets. We’ve expected
something like this for some time”
BOB MILLS, EYEWITNESS AT RUSSELL SQUARE:
“Looking at the wreckage it looks as if the bomb, or
whatever it was, exploded on the top deck of the bus at the
back. I did see a lot of bodies being treated on the ground,
people were already streaming out of Euston station after that
was evacuated”
ANJA DALGAARD-NIELSEN, DANISH INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL
STUDIES (DIIS)
“It’s shocking. It’s always problematic to guess at such an
early stage but coordinated bombs, that’s the trademark of the
networks that subscribe to al-Qaeda’s ideology. The IRA has not
carried out such attacks against civilians for ages, at least
not without prior warning.”
MJ GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION, ON CNN
“The chances are that it could be an al-Qaeda type
operation… Al-Qaeda and its friends do seem to like attacking
the transport systems around the world.”
SUSAN, EYEWITNESS TO SKY NEWS:
“We were walking from Kings Cross…I heard a bang I looked
around the whole top of the bus and the back of it just blew
off…there were people running everywhere.”
LUCY MILES, 25, EYEWITNESS
“We were sitting in traffic jam and there was a huge
explosion. Everyone ran down from the top of our bus and pushed
their way out screaming but the driver wouldn’t open the doors.”
“There were hundreds and hundreds of people running back
from Euston Road and some of them were crying and covering their
faces. I stopped a bloke and asked what was going on and he said
he had seen debris flying out of a building.”
MARIN STEVANSKI, EYEWITNESS:
“I just experienced a huge explosion on the underground.
Glass flew into my back…As I went past a carriage I could see
bodies on the ground.”