Talk:Coordinated terrorist attack hits London

Meta discussions about Wikinews reporting on this event are at /Meta.

I’m hearing this on the radio. Apparently it’s on the wires, so I’m going looking… Dan100 (Talk) 7 July 2005 08:31 (UTC)

I’m listening to London BBC and am in my office right opposite Euston. We heard the explosion at Tavistock Square. Info about hospitals from a friend and corroborated on BBC. ClareWhite 7 July 2005 10:00 (UTC)

Photo captions need more detail for people unfamiliar with what they are showing. — Davodd | Talk 7 July 2005 10:25 (UTC)

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair told London Live that there have been ‘events’ at Edgware Road, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Russell Square, Aldgate East and Moorgate.

There are no sources for the “additional reports” about Brighton, Luton, and Swindon. If sources are not provided, that entire paragraph should be removed. Uncle G 7 July 2005 10:28 (UTC)

Uncle G, it was on BBC News 24 but yes we need proper sources Dan100 (Talk) 7 July 2005 10:41 (UTC)

Tag sources: Flickr group: http://www-us.flickr.com/groups/londonexplosions/ Technorati tag: http://www.technorati.com/search/london%20explosions Videoblog entries: http://mefeedia.com/tags/london_explosion/

At what point will we know how long the tube closure is going to last? I’m meant to be travelling to Colchester on Saturday, and my route includes a tube change. What’s the likelihood that I’m going to have to replan my route? — Smjg 7 July 2005 10:30 (UTC)

Take a look at http://www.londontransport.co.uk/ for updates.

Vodafone has reached capacity accoridng to the BBC. Personal experience tells me O2 is also in difficulty. SkypeOut is working to landlines but not mobile phones really. [1] Portions of the network have been shut down.

This may be in response to the Madrid train bombings (allegedly) being triggered by mobile-phone.

I’ve heard a report that there have been secondary blasts at the scenes of the bus explosions, injuring and/or killing rescue workers. Can anyone confirm this? The news sites are, understandably, sluggish in loading ATM. –Mukashi 7 July 2005 10:35 (UTC)

The secondary blasts were probably “controlled explosions” which were announced by the police, not further bombs/terrorist activity. I’ll try and find a source.

Remember – there is more than one story here – do not be afraid of starting a separate sub-story on such topics as victims, cause, money lost to businesses, transit delays – etc. — Davodd | Talk 7 July 2005 10:40 (UTC)

Reuters story states ‘The Great Eastern Hotel, which was hosting a conference on the Israeli economy, was evacuated. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to attend the conference but had not arrived.’ The Great Eastern Hotel is on Liverpool Street – Liverpool Street Station was the first hit. Locations of blasts follow a line from Edgware Road round to Aldgate.

According to the AP, he had advanced notice and changed his plans AP Article –Ptdecker 7 July 2005 16:22 (UTC)

BBC just confirmed that Al Qaeda is behind these bombings

They’ve got a page up now with a translation of the message: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4660391.stm (The BBC news site seems to still be accessible)

Please only report what we know, not speculation Dan100 (Talk) 7 July 2005 11:21 (UTC)

Al Jazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/812224C7-006D-4424-B15B-EC3E8381A4D7.htm

Why is somebody citing wikipedia to say that it’s saying Al-Queda is related? How can that be considered a credible source at the moment? –70.50.118.56 7 July 2005 11:28 (UTC)

unconfirmed, but the German paper ‘Der Spiegel’ says they were approached by an organisation that calls itself: ‘the Secret Organisation of Al Qaeda in Europe’ to be responsible for the bombing

Please don’t cite WP – our fact-checking is better than theirs Dan100 (Talk) 7 July 2005 11:30 (UTC)

Does anyone have the casualty number, I can’t get onto the BBC

The number of people confirmed dead in the attacks is now 38, Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Brian Paddick says. Thirty-five people died on the tube, two on the bus and one later in hospital. It appears that the BBC are prioritising access to UK readers.

Tony Blair has stated that he will be returning to London to talk face to face with the rescue services. The G8 will continue as usual and Mr. Blair will return this evening

Blair say this act is barbaric, especially since it is at the same time when G8 talked about Africa and the hunger.

‘Our determination to defend our way of living is greater than from the terrorist to cause victims and deaths among innocent people’. (Quotation may not be correct)

Absolutely… Dan100 (Talk) 7 July 2005 11:29 (UTC)

Sorry, i should have said it’s the bloomsbury hilton. ClareWhite 7 July 2005 11:18 (UTC)

Just a rumour from a friend by email, but apparently a suicide bomber has been shot at Canary Wharf. Can anyone confirm this, or is it just made up?

User:skx: BBC News 24 was asked about this in their press conference. It was denied, and the policeman representing the discussion said there were no snipers involved anywhere.

I heard this too and there are other reports on the web that there definitely were witnesses in the HSBC tower at canary Wharf to a man being shot dead by police – why is this being covered up? Surely if the police had intercepted a bomber they would be boasting about it!???

Maybe it wasn’t a terrorist, just a civillian, that could be why they are trying to cover it up!

Once and for all – it’s 4, as in four http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/london_blasts/html/default.stm Adidas 7 July 2005 22:05 (UTC)

Was there six or seven explosions reported?

It’s wrong: BBC are confirming 6 on the Underground and one on a bus Dan100 (Talk) 7 July 2005 11:29 (UTC) Four: http://www.met.police.uk/

the references tyo the russel square station mean the bus in tavistock square i think

I’m now hearing seven…. can’t find source yet ClareWhite 7 July 2005 11:34 (UTC)

same here, the English Police would gave confirmed it to be seven (on Dutch TV and Sky). Source not online to check this fact.

Double digit fatalities reporties underground.

Police chief is saying 6 total incidents, 1 on bus. Not all of which are necessarily explosions. Thryduulf 7 July 2005 11:45 (UTC)

flikr pool for images http://www.flickr.com/groups/74918957@N00/pool/

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/ reports the bus at Tavistock Place was a #30

Scotland yard say 4 explosions NOT 6 Source: http://www.met.police.uk/ the difference is due to the trains being between stations (aldgate and liverpool st, kings cross and russell square) – This needs to be made clear in the article.

i heard from a friend who works in the area that a person was seen shot dead outside canary wharf, possibly a sniper and/or suicide bomber. although it is being denied by the met, mi5 and mi6 at present i believe there to be some truth behind this rumour. can anyone give anymore details?

As of 15:58 a the police response press conference, This has been denied by Brian Paddick of the met police he claims to have heard nothing of this previously

Another good story would be one based on this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/front_page/4659781.stm Ronline

Somebody needs to comb through this article and keep numbers self-consistent!

reports from people in the area that there has been another explosion in wandsworth, at the olympic bid headquarters. any confirmation?

‘The “Vigipirate plan” was raised from “orange” to “red”.’

If we’re going to talk about this, can we have some indication of what it actually means?

The hotline numbers quoted on Wikipedia and Wikinews are different

are they both correct?

The Wikinews one is the British Transport Police’s number; the wikipedia one is the general Met police one. I’ve added it to the wikinews article. Proto 7 July 2005 13:30 (UTC)

Neither of these are correct. 0870 15 66 3 44 is the correct Casualty Bureau number. The **** 0101 number will definitely not work.

In the telephone number list:

None of these are changes to the actual numbers. All of these are changes to the formatting, either to comply with the way UK numbers are written and/or the addition of the ‘+’ prefix to clarify that a number is in the international format. I have no idea how to find a source that tells you that ‘1 800 002 214 is undiallable from the UK’ other than to ask you to dial it on your own telephone and see for yourself that it does not connect. If you’re in the US you will already know that the number, as presented, is a digit short of what a US 1 800 number should look like. Srd77 (talk) 11:19, 13 December 2009 (UTC) {{editprotected}} Please action items 1, 4, 5, 6 from the above list. Items 2 and 3 are merely comments that the numbers cannot be correct. (Srd77 (talk) 16:37, 21 December 2009 (UTC))

Somebody should make the statement from Tony Blair earlier and at the G8 a little more consistent looking. One is italicized, the other not. One has separate header, the other not. –70.50.118.56 7 July 2005 12:26 (UTC)

The Queen has made her statement, how should it be added to the list at the bottom of this article? –Nidonocu 7 July 2005 12:40 (UTC)

BBC London are now saying up to 7 explosions, the press people in the building here are saying 8: five on the tube and three on buses, but the buses seem not to be being mentioed anymore so perhaps they weren’t confirmed. People are coming to our building now out of the rain and they seem shocked but OK. The biggest problem, assuming there are no more explosions, will be people stranded here while all the transport is down ClareWhite 7 July 2005 12:44 (UTC)

Hi I just saw a report on BBC where a police representative said there were 4 explosions on the Subway, but becaus of many exit points there has been confusion, as for the busses I cant say much. username>Kurogawa

Totally unconfirmed anecdotal report that a suicide bomber was shot today at Canary Wharf which is why that area (a commonly assumed target) is safe. Anyone hear anything? –81.178.105.106 7 July 2005 13:03 (UTC)

There is apparently still a rescue effort going on there. Why? Are any of these explosions underground? I have a growing feeling that the confusion over numbers and casualties may stem from a degree of blackout. I have spoken to friends in other areas of London over my lunchbreak and there are various offices where people are not being allowed out of their buildings. It seems to me that the dust is not yet fully settled.

Sky News UK are now reporting that the number dead are now 45 — anon

The UK Highways agency has an news item on their front page that states “At the request of the police, the message: ‘Avoid London – Turn on Radio’ is being displayed on electronic motorway message signs on the M25 and other major routes approaching London.” (http://www.highways.gov.uk/)

However if you go to the live traffic map that shows the current road conditions and the live contents of the electronic motorway message signs, they actually say: “AVOID LONDON AREA. CLOSED

–KSts 7 July 2005 15:05 (UTC)

Update: On the traffic map it is also indicated that on the M4 motorway heading out of town (J1-J2) there are currently delays of more that 3 hours! –[KSts] 7 July 2005 15:08 (UTC)

Since 11 AM my in-laws have been trying to get home to North London from Surrey. Many local taxi firms they contacted are simply not taking any more bookings. They have tried inner London firms in case they can get a ride back from an airport run. The refusal to take bookings is understandable but those that are still open are charging extortionate rates warning the M25 and many other roads are still gridlocked so few people can afford the unpredictable and likely enormous cost of a metered journey. Some drivers want to work off the meter and the fares are triple what is normally charged. (81.174.205.253 forgot to sign at 11:36, July 7, 2005) – Please remember to sign your discussion contributions.

It’s a horrible cliche and completely inappropriate. Please choose something less ridiculous –161.73.58.135 7 July 2005 15:44 (UTC)

What are the security responses of nations besides the UK? France, Germany and the United States are on various levels of heightened alert, for example.

The responses of world leaders, and offers of assistance from other nations, is another potential wikinews story.

(insert your suggestion here)

–Jgarzik 7 July 2005 15:54 (UTC)

BBC News 24 are reporting ambulance service have treated 45 serious / critical injuries and 300 less serious injuries.

–Satoru 7 July 2005 17:16 (UTC)

Renamed to a more accurate title. The previous title was nondescriptive because it is unknown of how many bombs at each site were used, and it is undescriptive of the type of explosive used (ie: Suicide or not)

The prime minister has acknoledged/confirmed that was Terrorists, and a Coordinated attack. Therefore this change in title is warranted

–The Land of Smeg 7 July 2005 18:01 (UTC)

Just for the record we knew exactly how many bombs there were at that point in time (four). Dan100 (Talk) 07:57, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

I may be alone in this, but I find having pics on the left side and then the link table on the right really ugly. Couldn’t you just put the pics on the right side below the link table? Is it absolutely necessary to have the pics starting at the top? I think they’re the same width and it would look a lot nicer IMHO of course. –65.95.201.20 7 July 2005 19:48 (UTC)

I know this is the second time this week I’m mentioning this for different articles but WHERE THE HECK ARE THE ORIGINAL REPORTING NOTES? I’m disturbed to see “This article contains original reporting” and then no easily accessable notes for accountability. –RossKoepke 7 July 2005 22:10 (UTC)

I only just saw this question – Friends House is on the Euston Road opposite Euston, so not very near Kings Cross but very close to Tavistock Square, as in it’s the closest bus stop heading South 🙂 We heard the explosion and some of the first witnesses got here (we opened the building for the stranded) and told my colleagues about the bus which I then reported to Dan100 on his talk page, about ten/twenty minutes ahead of the first witness report on BBC London Live. ClareWhite 08:31, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

The German news reports more than 50 verified deaths. Very, very sad. See [2]

I’m a Chinese girl from Chengdu.On July 7th when I stayed in my office chatting with my friend who told me that London has a great bombing.I’m shocked and so suprised.that’s the really worst thing I heard before.We need a peaceful world.Why not could we have a peaceful attitude to discuss everthing whatever USA or the European Union.The dumb millions are inculpable.Let us stop fighting and battling.

This is a bit “a friend of a friend”… A colleague of mine spoke to two friends of his who both work at the Wharf. Independently they confirmed the shooting, having both seen the snipers and the event. 81.133.208.151 12:55, 9 July 2005 (moved from redirected talk page Uncle G 9 July 2005 13:19 (UTC))

Here’s an issue with this article, and in Wikinews in general – how are deadlines handled? The dateline on this article reads July 7, even though there are edits well past this date, up until July 9. Do we need better editing discipline here? Most other news operations will make changes discrete with UPDATES or WRITETHROUGH. If an article is datelined a certain date, it should be closed at some point. Fuzheado 03:21, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Fuzheado is right – we need better discipline. By July 9 we had many more newer articles, which are more up to date. This article – as with any article – should not be edited after the day (except for typos etc). If there are developments, start a new article. The fact it’s wrong doesn’t matter particulary – this is what we knew at the time. Dan100 (Talk) 08:00, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

I am an American sending my condolance to all of Britian for this terrible attack. Please know How sorry I am that this has taken the lives of so many innocent people. You are in my prayers.

http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@16.0Q0lfLiv6Jg.32@.7747fb90/63

hi i think we should really think about why these terrorist have done this and may be look at our foriegn policy and our support in the iraq war and save the lifes of innocent people all around the world

The justification for the current title was this: “The prime minister has acknoledged/confirmed that was Terrorists, and a Coordinated attack. Therefore this change in title is warranted”.

I dispute that Tony Blair calling the event “terrorism” makes it NPOV. Many other groups, and probably millions of people throughout the world, do not consider the attacks to be terrorism. Other articles on Wikinews have consistantly used the terms “bombing” or “attack”. I’d like to rename this article to “Coordinated bombing hits London” or similar. Since it has such a high profile I thought I’d call for comments first.

Note that I personally think that the attack was terrorism, but that doesn’t mean the word should be included in an article title.

– Borofkin 23:56, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

I JUST WANTED TO COMMENT ON HOW SAD IT IS THAT IN THE WORLD WE NOW LIVE IN WE DON’T KNOW IF WE WILL MAKE IT HOME TO SEE OUR LOVED ONES. I’M FROM NEW YORK AND THE LONDON ATTACKS BRING ALL OF SEPTEMBER 11 BACK AS THOUGH IT WERE YESTERDAY. WATCHING THE NEWS AND SEEING PEOPLE LIVE FALLING FROM THE TRADE TOWERS, THE FEAR AND COMPLETE DEVASTATION THESE ATTACKS HAVE BROUGHT TO THE WOR;D. I PRAY FOR THE FAMILIES OF THOSE WHOSE LIVES WERE LOST AND HOPE LONDONERS SUPPORT EACH OTHER. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO HEAL BECAUSE YOU CAN NEVER TRULY FORGET SUCH A DAY. AND I HOPE THAT PEOPLE WHO PRACTICE THE MUSLIM FAITH WILL NOT BE TARGETED BECAUSE YOU CANNOT BLAME THE EVIL OF A FEW ON OTHERS WHO ARE JUST AS DEVASTED BY THESE ATTACKS. GOD BLESS AND I HOPE WE ALL LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE RACE OR RELIGON DO NOT MATTER. JUST THE PERSON AND THERE HEART

Hi,

On behalf of a number of Americans, just want to not only send my greatest sympathies to all the Londoners and British reading, but deeply apologize for the heavy-handed, self-centered way that our media has been covering this issue. Jon Stewart’s satirical “The Daily Show” aptly showed it the other night – including a clip in which Brit Hume callously chirped, “Time to buy”. (A new low in American journalism – Edward Murrow would have fired him, if he’d been on the CBS news staff. At least Murrow appreciated how much you guys took during the WWII Blitz. I’m sorry that subsequent broadcasters seem to have ignored everything Murrow taught them about England.)

I’m sorry that our media seems more interested in stirring up fear about potential attacks in the US than covering how things are going for you folks. Please know that there are lots of us thinking of you all and feeling keenly how scary and ghastly this situation must be for those in London, especially the families of those hurt and killed.

Many of us are choosing to read BBC, blogs and updates here rather than watch or read American news websites, and are shocked and saddened by the number of missing still unaccounted for.

Please don’t take our stupid, self-centered news shows to be the heartbeat of the average American, whatever their political outlook. You’ve been a good friend to us, even when half of us seemed to have lost our minds, Britain; bless you and may you keep safe.

Mz Von P

but i think to say we are not afraid is silly……how can you not be afraid. only a fool would say this. while i am afraid, NOTHING will keep me from living my normal life. God bless us all!!!!!

Why did this have to happen to us, as we try and pick up the pieces of our lives, lets stop and think of the people who died in this meaningless attack!!!!!!

May the people who did this rot in hell!!!!

This scum have just made London stronger!!!!!!

Lets not forget the lost!!!!!

R.I.P

Gareth Carter

I am a Londoner born and bred, and am determined that these cowards will not keep me out of my city,These cowards hide behind religion and say that they are doing this in the name of islam, what utter rubbish, nowhere does the islamic faith pursue the act of violence. People of many faiths and no faith at all have been murdered on our transport system, and we have now been informed that one of these cowardly fanatics has been employed as a teacher in our schools, is there noone checking what has been taught, and what is now being taught in the many impromptu mosques. How has this been allowed to happen in my city, possibly because we allow fanatics to rant in the streets comdeming the west whilst happily living on the support the western world provides. My sympathy goes to those who have lost loved ones, as a Londoner I am disgusted that this has been allowed to happen, as a Human being, I am heartbroken.

Susan Carter (london the greatest city in the world)

From an American soldier, I am truly sorry for the terrorist acts on London. I speaking as an American soldier, vow to help you find and hunt down those who are responsible. My thoughts are with you London.

The ‘we’renotafraid.com’ website has the “we’re not afraid” theme emblazoned on t-shirts and gear available from ‘cafepress.com’. Should United States’ cotton be used as such a tasteless expression of noncomittal sales efforts?

The question must be addressed by anyone who wants to make sure the real killers are brought to justice. The history of frame-ups by government cabals is not a “conspiracy theory”..it’s just plain history. e.g. [[3]]… that ruse cost the lives of 68,000 American servicemen..then there is [[4]] and [[5]]. The point,in my opinion, is that the people,the voters, have to actually do some research and think about the story our governments put forth.

Now, here is the problem I have with el-Nashar being identified as the mastermind of a band of “clean skins”. The known and agreed upon facts are; 1. this man is smart 2. this man has been in Egypt for some time 3. he denied being connected to the bombers and everyone who knows him finds it hard to believe 4. a pile of expolsive materials were found in his bathtub in London.

These 4 facts do not compute for me. A;If he is smart he wouldn’t leave or have left the explosive crap in his bathtub unless he wanted to get caught. B;If he wanted to get caught, why deny what he did? C;Since he was in Egypt for so long there would have been lots of time to plant explosive crap in his bathtub. D;If he was a terrorist, why would he be teaching at a madrasa school? Isn’t that like wearing “I’m a terrorist” flag?

Now finally, and this will require some research in order to confirm or refute, (unless one prefers to just resort to name-calling)Britain and the USA(and likely most governments) for 2 centuries have had foreign policies which include and embrace frame-ups in order to move their populations in a particular direction and or to obtain strategic positioning geographically.

For some inexplicable reason I read a book by Walter Russell Mead of the U.S. Council of Foreign Relations [[6]] titled “Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How it Changed the World”[[7]] a book that showed how much of a mushroom I really am; a book which shows that not only do many western leaders know about and accept the war engineering and racial/religious/culteral hate engineering accomplished by frame-ups..they actually believe it is now America’s duty to conquer the world and that the end justifies the means. Which explains to me..finally..”why are american troops in Iraq,Kuwait,S Korea,Saudi Arabia,Cuba etc.etc.etc.” It’s not because the american people want them to be there; it’s because the people like Kerry and Bush and Mead want them to be there.

WHY??? Because it takes 2 to make a war;so you have to have an enemy; and the easiest way to make an enemy is to move next door and have a bunch of weapons pointed at his kids; imo. But, prove me wrong..read this f___ing book that Meade wrote; and see our western history in a brand new light. Paulrevere2005 20:21, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

I’m protecting this article – I’m sure all typos have long been fixed, and we don’t re-write old stories, so I’m protecting this to prevent vandalism and spamming. Dan100 (Talk) 12:53, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

{{FAC}}: passed.–Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 12:03, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

commons:Image:Russell square ushering.jpg has been deleted. –Darth Kule – Comlink 17:32, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

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