On 7 July 2005, Islamist terrorists carried out four coordinated suicide bombings targeting commuters travelling on London's public transport during the morning rush hour. The attacks are sometimes known as the 7/7 bombings or simply 7/7.
Three terrorists separately detonated three homemade bombs in quick succession aboard London Underground trains in Inner London. Later, a fourth terrorist detonated another bomb on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. The train bombings occurred on the Circle Line near Aldgate and at Edgware Road and on the Piccadilly Line near Russell Square.
Apart from the bombers, 52 people from 18 countries were killed and nearly 800 were injured in the attacks. It was the UK's deadliest terrorist incident since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 near Lockerbie and the UK's first Islamist suicide attack.
The explosions were caused by improvised explosive devices made from concentrated hydrogen peroxide and pepper, packed into backpacks. The bombings were followed two weeks later by a series of attempted attacks that failed to cause injury or damage.
Attacks
London Underground
At 8:49 a.m. on Thursday 7 July 2005, three bombs were detonated on London Underground (LU) trains within 50 seconds of one another:
- The first bomb exploded on a six-car London Underground Circle Line train, number 204, travelling eastbound between Liverpool Street and Aldgate. At the time of the explosion, the train's third car was approximately 100 yards (90 m) along the tunnel from Liverpool Street. The parallel track of the Hammersmith & City Line between Liverpool Street and Aldgate East was also damaged in the blast.
- The second bomb exploded in the second car of another six-car London Underground Circle Line train, number 216, which had just left Edgware Road and was travelling westbound towards Paddington. An eastbound Circle Line train that was passing next to the bombed train was also damaged, as was a wall that later collapsed.
- A third bomb was detonated on a six-car London Underground Piccadilly Line train, number 311, travelling southbound from King's Cross St Pancras tube station to Russell Square. The device exploded approximately one minute after the service departed King's Cross, by which time it had travelled about 500 yards (450 m). The explosion occurred at the rear of the first car of the train, causing severe damage to the rear of that car as well as the front of the second one. The surrounding tunnel also sustained damage.
It was originally thought that there had been six, rather than three, explosions on the Underground network. The bus bombing brought the reported total to seven; this was clarified later in the day. The incorrect reports were later attributed to the fact that the blasts occurred on trains that were between stations, causing wounded passengers to emerge from both stations, giving the impression that there was an incident at each. Police also revised the timings of the tube blasts: initial reports had indicated that they occurred during a period of almost half an hour. This was due to initial confusion by London Underground, who originally believed the explosion to have been caused by power surges. An early report, made in the minutes after the explosions, involved a person under a train, while another described a derailment (both of which did occur, but only as a result of the explosions). A code amber alert was declared by LU at 9:19 a.m., and LU began to close operations by ordering trains to continue to the next station and, to remain at that station and detrain passengers.
The effects of the explosions varied due to the differing characteristics of the tunnels in which each occurred:
- The Circle Line is a "cut-and-cover" sub-surface tunnel, about 7 m (23 ft) deep. As the tunnel contains two parallel tracks, it is relatively wide. The two explosions on the Circle line were able to vent their force into the tunnel, reducing their destructive force.
- The Piccadilly Line is a deep-level tunnel, up to 30 m (100 ft) below the surface and with narrow (3.56 m, or 11 ft 8+1⁄4 in) single-track tubes and 15 cm (6 in) clearances. This confined space reflected the blast force, concentrating its effect.
Tavistock Square bus
Almost one hour after the attacks on the London Underground, a fourth bomb exploded on the top deck of a number 30 double-decker bus, travelling its route from Marble Arch to Hackney Wick.
The bus left Marble Arch at 9:00 a.m. and arrived at Euston bus station at 9:35 a.m., where crowds of people had been evacuated from the tube and boarded buses as an alternative method of transport.
The explosion at 9:47 a.m. in Tavistock Square ripped off the roof and destroyed the rear portion of the bus. The blast took place near BMA House, the headquarters of the British Medical Association, on Upper Woburn Place. A number of doctors and medical staff in or near that building were able to provide immediate emergency assistance.
Witnesses reported seeing "papers and half a bus flying through the air". Two injured bus passengers said that they saw a man exploding in the bus.
The location of the bomb inside the bus meant the front of the vehicle remained mostly intact. Most of the passengers at the front of the top deck survived, as did those near the front of the lower deck, including the driver, but those at the rear of the bus suffered more serious injuries, with several individuals being blown from the bus. The extent of the damage caused to the victims' bodies resulted in a lengthy delay in announcing the death toll from the bombing while the police determined how many bodies were present and whether the bomber was one of them. Several passers-by were also injured by the explosion and surrounding buildings were damaged by debris.
The bombed bus was subsequently covered with tarpaulin and removed for forensic examination at a secure Ministry of Defence site. A replacement bus was named Spirit of London.
Victims
The 52 victims were of diverse backgrounds. All were UK residents, including exchange students. The majority lived in or near London. Their ages ranged from 20 to 60 years old, with an average age of 34.
Thirty-two victims were British born, while one victim each came from Afghanistan, France, Ghana, Grenada, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mauritius, New Zealand, Nigeria, Romania, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Three victims were Polish nationals, while one victim was a Vietnamese-born Australian and one held dual American-Vietnamese citizenship.
Seven of the victims were killed in the tunnel between Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations, six in the tunnel between Paddington and Edgware Road stations, 26 in the tunnel between King's Cross and Russell Square stations and a further 13 on the bus at Tavistock Square.
Attackers
The four suicide bombers were later identified as:
- Shehzad Tanweer, aged 22. He lived in Beeston, Leeds, occasionally working in his parents' fish and chip shop on Lodge Lane. He detonated his bomb first, on the number 204 train. Eight people, including Tanweer, were killed by the explosion.
- Mohammad Sidique Khan, aged 30. The ringleader of the four bombers, he also lived in Beeston, Leeds, with his wife and young child. He worked as a learning mentor at a primary school. Khan was the second to detonate a bomb, on the number 216 train, killing seven people, including himself.
- Germaine Lindsay, aged 19. He lived in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, with his pregnant wife Samantha and young son. His was the third bomb to be detonated, on the number 311 train. The blast killed 27 people, including him.
- Hasib Hussain, aged 18. He lived in Leeds with his brother and sister-in-law. Hussain detonated his bomb last, on a bus. Fourteen people, including him, died in the explosion in Tavistock Square.
Three of the bombers were British-born sons of Pakistani immigrants; Lindsay was a convert born in Jamaica.
Charles Clarke, Home Secretary when the attacks occurred, described the bombers as "cleanskins", a term describing them as previously unknown to authorities. On the day of the attacks, all four had travelled to Luton, Bedfordshire, by car. Lindsay arrived at Luton railway station just after 5:00 a.m., while the other three left Leeds around 4:00 a.m. and arrived at the train carpark at approximately 6.50 a.m.; all four entered the station at 7:15 a.m. and boarded a Thameslink train which left for London at 7:25 a.m. (the initial official account wrongly gave this departure time as 7:40 a.m.) They were filmed on CCTV arriving at King's Cross station just before 8:25 a.m. and were seen hugging soon afterwards before heading towards the Tube.
Motives
Videotaped statements
Two of the bombers made videotapes describing their reasons for becoming what they called "soldiers". In a videotape broadcast by Al Jazeera on 1 September 2005, Mohammad Sidique Khan described his motivation. The tape had been edited and mentioned al-Qaeda members Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, describing them as "today's heroes". Khan's tape said:
I and thousands like me are forsaking everything for what we believe. Our drive and motivation doesn't come from tangible commodities that this world has to offer. Our religion is Islam, obedience to the one true God and following the footsteps of the final prophet messenger. Your democratically-elected governments continuously perpetuate atrocities against my people all over the world. And your support of them makes you directly responsible, just as I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim brothers and sisters. Until we feel security you will be our targets and until you stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture of my people, we will not stop this fight. We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation.
The tape continued:
...I myself, I myself, I make dua (pray) to Allah ... to raise me amongst those whom I love like the prophets, the messengers, the martyrs and today's heroes like our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden, Dr Ayman al-Zawahri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and all the other brothers and sisters that are fighting in the ... of this cause.
On 6 July 2006, a videotaped statement by Shehzad Tanweer was broadcast by Al-Jazeera. In the video, which may have been edited to include remarks by al-Zawahiri, Tanweer said:
Your government has openly supported the genocide of over 150,000 innocent Muslims in Falluja... You have offered financial and military support to the U.S. and Israel, in the massacre of our children in Palestine. You are directly responsible for the problems in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq to this day. You have openly declared war on Islam, and are the forerunners in the crusade against the Muslims. ... What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a string of attacks that will continue and become stronger until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq. And until you stop your financial and military support to America and Israel.
Tanweer argued that the non-Muslims of Britain deserve such attacks because they voted for a government which "continues to oppress our mothers, children, brothers and sisters in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Chechnya".
Effects and response
Initial reports
Initial reports suggested that a power surge on the Underground power grid had caused explosions in power circuits. This was later ruled out by power suppliers National Grid. Commentators suggested that the explanation had been made because of bomb damage to power lines along the tracks; the rapid series of power failures caused by the explosions (or power being ended by means of switches at the locations to permit evacuation) looked similar, from the point of view of a control room operator, to a cascading series of circuit breaker operations that would result from a major power surge. A couple of hours after the bombings, Home Secretary Charles Clarke confirmed the incidents were terrorist attacks.
Security alerts
Although there were security alerts at many locations throughout the United Kingdom, no terrorist incidents occurred outside central London. Suspicious packages were destroyed in controlled explosions in Edinburgh, Brighton, Coventry, Southampton, Portsmouth, Darlington and Nottingham. Security across the country was increased to the highest alert level.
The Times reported on 17 July 2005 that police sniper units were following as many as a dozen al-Qaeda suspects in Britain. The covert armed teams were ordered to shoot to kill if surveillance suggested that a terror suspect was carrying a bomb and he refused to surrender if challenged. A member of the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Firearms Command said: "These units are trained to deal with any eventuality. Since the London bombs, they have been deployed to look at certain people."