July 2005 London bombings were synchronised attacks. The first set of attacks took place on July 7 2005. Two weeks
later a second set of attacks were carried out, apparently failed bombing attempts. Both sets of bombings targeted the city's
public transport system, with attacks on the London Underground and the bus network. Fifty-six people, all in the first attack,
have been confirmed killed, including four suspected bombers, with 700 injured.
In the days that followed the attacks, security was heightened in the UK and many other countries.
Three bombs on the London Underground exploded within fifty seconds of each other. The first bomb exploded on eastbound
Circle Line sub-surface Underground train between Liverpool Street and Aldgate. The second exploded on the second carriage
of a westbound Circle Line sub-surface Underground train at Edgware Road. The third bomb exploded on a southbound Piccadilly
Line deep-level Underground train between King's Cross St Pancras and Russell Square.
The explosions were initially thought to be due to a power surge. One initial report, in the minutes after the explosions,
involved a person under a train, while another concerned a derailment (both of which did actually occur, but only as a result
of the explosions). A code amber alert was declared at 09:19, and London Underground began to shut down the network, bringing
trains into stations and suspending all services.
An hour after the initial explosions, a further explosion occurred in
Tavistock Square on a double-decker bus operated by Stagecoach London travelling its route from Marble Arch to Hackney Wick
.
Two weeks after the initial attacks, four explosive devices partially detonated when attackers attempted to recreate the
bombings. Again the attack was on three London Underground trains and one bus, though a fifth bomb was later recovered in
Little Wormwood Scrubs, just north of White City and Shepherd's Bush. The timings of the attacks were less precise than on
7 July but again the attacks on the London Underground network were more or less synchronised and preceded an attack on a
London bus by about an hour. There were no fatalities and none of the individuals responsible were apprehended at the scene.
The London Underground attacks were on a train at Shepherd's Bush tube station on the Hammersmith and City Line in West
London, a train at Oval tube station on the Northern Line, and on a Victoria Line train at Warren Street tube station (through
which the Northern Line also runs). The bus attack occurred in East London on a bus travelling from Waterloo to Hackney Wick,
on Hackney Road.
Since all the bombers had evaded arrest, a nationwide manhunt began and there were fears of further attacks. In the subsequent
heightened security on the London Underground, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot and killed by armed police officers at Stockwell
tube station, after being mistaken for a suspect. Menezes was not involved with the bombings, nor was he carrying any explosives
or weapons.
Just over a week after the 21 July bombing attempts, four men suspected of trying to detonate the nail bombs had been arrested.
One man was found in Birmingham, two in London and one in the Italian capital, Rome.
Although there were security alerts at many locations, no similar incidents occurred outside central London. Suspicious
packages were destroyed in controlled explosions in Birmingham, Brighton, Coventry, Edinburgh, Luton, Darlington and Swindon.
Security across the UK was raised to the highest alert level.
Many other countries raised their own "Terror Alert Status" (for example United States, France, and Germany), especially
for public transport. For a time US commanders ordered troops based in the UK to avoid London.
