{"id":4925,"date":"2017-09-15T18:04:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T18:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/punjabnews24.com\/?p=4925"},"modified":"2017-09-15T18:04:57","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T18:04:57","slug":"london-underground-is-struck-by-crude-bomb-at-parsons-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/london-underground-is-struck-by-crude-bomb-at-parsons-green\/","title":{"rendered":"London Underground Is Struck by Crude Bomb at Parsons Green"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 Britain was hit by a terrorist attack on Friday morning, when a crude device exploded on a crowded London Underground train, injuring commuters, sowing panic, disrupting service and drawing a heavy response from armed police officers and emergency workers.<\/p>\n

The device exploded at 8:20 a.m. on an eastbound District Line train leaving the Parsons Green station in Southwest London.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a detonation of an improvised explosive device,\u201d Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley of the Metropolitan Police, a top counterterrorism official, said at a news conference. He urged anyone who had seen what happened, or had taken photos or videos of the bombing, to come forward.<\/p>\n

The authorities immediately beefed up security around the transit system, as hundreds of police officers and detectives combed the scene for clues.<\/p>\n

Officials said that 29 people were hospitalized, several of whom had apparently been injured as panicked commuters fled. None had life-threatening injuries, and hospital officials described the victims as \u201cwalking wounded.\u201d By late Friday afternoon, eight of the 29 had been discharged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe train was packed, and I was down the other side of the carriage standing up, looking at my phone and then I heard a big boom and felt this heat on my face,\u201d said Natalie Belford, 42, a hairdresser and beautician who was on the train. \u201cI ran for my life, but there was no way out. The doors were full of people and the carriage was too packed to move down.\u201d<\/p>\n

A photo widely circulated on social media showed a white bucket inside a bag, with wires and flames coming out of it.<\/p>\n

Passengers described seeing a wall of fire. One woman with burns was taken away on a stretcher, and several others were cut or bruised as panicked commuters fled the train and the elevated station.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Forensic investigators on the station platform.(The New York Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The National Health Service said that\u00a019 people had been taken to three hospitals<\/a>\u00a0and that another three had gone on their own.<\/p>\n

It was the fifth terrorist attack in Britain this year, following a\u00a0vehicular and knife attack<\/a>\u00a0near Parliament in March, a\u00a0suicide bombing<\/a>\u00a0at a rock concert in Manchester in May, and a\u00a0van and knife attack<\/a>\u00a0around London Bridge and a\u00a0van attack outside a London mosque<\/a>, both in June.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the terrorist violence has been the deadliest on British soil since July 7, 2005, when\u00a0suicide bombers<\/a>\u00a0set off explosions on three subway cars and a double-decker bus in London, killing 52 people and injuring scores of others.<\/p>\n

The new attack immediately revived concerns that militants might be targeting the Underground, commonly known as the Tube \u2014 the world\u2019s oldest subway system and one of the busiest.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Theresa May returned to London from her constituency in Maidenhead, west of the capital, and summoned a meeting of the government\u2019s emergency committee, known as Cobra, for the afternoon. Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, appealed for calm.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s mayor, Sadiq Khan, a face of resolve following the earlier attacks, issued a defiant\u00a0statement on Facebook.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
An injured woman near the station.(The New York Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOur city utterly condemns the hideous individuals who attempt to use terror to harm us and destroy our way of life,\u201d Mr. Khan wrote. \u201cAs London has proven again and again, we will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the United States, President Trump weighed in on Twitter, saying the bombing was the act of a \u201closer terrorist.\u201d He said that \u201csick and demented people\u201d had been \u201cin the sights of Scotland Yard,\u201d but he did not elaborate on what he meant.<\/p>\n

The tweet draw an unusual rebuke from Mrs. May, who told the BBC, \u201cI never think it\u2019s helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the London police said in a statement: \u201cAny speculation is extremely unhelpful at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Parsons Green, commuters described a frightening vista.<\/p>\n

Ms. Belford, the hairdresser, said she was knocked over twice, and showed a reporter her ripped tights and bloodied knee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was a bomb when I saw people with charred hair and burned faces,\u201d Ms. Belford said. \u201cThis has got to be terrorism \u2014 a bag full of explosive materials don\u2019t just appear on a train by accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Ojeda-Sierra, 13, a pupil at the London Oratory School, was en route to school with a friend when he heard screaming from other.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cI was on the train, about two carriages from the front, and I was talking with my friend and all of the sudden people started screaming and running,\u201d he said in an interview at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. \u201cI dropped my bag and we started running. My friend was ahead by a meter. I tripped and he carried on running. One man fell on me and I had my legs bent backwards and my right ankle got twisted and I started screaming that I had no air.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had several bruises on his face.<\/p>\n

Adam Davis, a 23-year-old student, said he was in the train car where the device exploded.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cI had my headphones on, then I felt a kind of vibration, followed by a wave of heat, and I looked down and the whole carriage was in flames,\u201d he said. \u201cI just got up and ran, but the carriage door was jammed with people. Everyone was screaming and trying to get out, people had blood on them everyone was pushing. It was like a stampede.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI didn\u2019t see any suspicious-looking people, or the bucket that\u2019s on the media. I just saw flames and you think the worst. You think bomb. Terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Felicity and Tom Reid said they were on their way to a funeral when the explosion went off on their train.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had planned to get a cab, but the traffic was so bad at that time we were worried we would be late,\u201d Mrs. Reid said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t in the carriage with the explosion, but we heard the bang and heard people screaming so we started running.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cYou think of the worst: bombs, terrorists, shootings, stabbings. You think worse will follow and you just run for your life. We got lucky, but this is terrifying and a reminder it can happen anywhere. Nowhere is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Police officers put up cordon tape around the station.(The New York Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Service on the District Line between Edgware Road and Wimbledon was\u00a0suspended<\/a>. The police said Londoners should expect to see more officers in public spaces through the weekend.<\/p>\n

The Parsons Green station, which opened in 1880, is in Hammersmith and Fulham, an inner London borough that is home to several corporate headquarters and soccer clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t hear anything but I saw a big crowd of people running and screaming outside my window,\u201d said one woman, Nita Alvi, who lives near the station. \u201cI went to try and help, but everyone was running so fast. Some of them were holding their heads, some were limping. One older woman fell to the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cMy first thought was that it was a stabbing but people were shouting that it was a bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy Ramm<\/a>, a former commander of specialist operations at Scotland Yard, said that police would be undertaking a comprehensive forensic examination of the train and the device to determine what happened and whether there was an ongoing threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police will also ask witnesses the age-old question: Did anyone see what happened?\u201d he said. \u201cThey will be investigating what the detonation mechanism was and going through CCTV footage to see who might be behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Ramm said the police would also be looking for any communications of a bomb threat before the attack, not just in the last 24 hours, but in recent weeks, and waiting to see if anyone claimed responsibility. As part of the investigation, he said, police would be working with security services to see if any terrorist cells or police targets under surveillance had been observed in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cParsons Green is not emblematic or symbolic, and I think that will be a puzzlement for investigating officers, who will ask: Was it intended to be detonated or did it go off there by accident?\u201d he added. \u201cIf you look at a list of target areas in London, Parsons Green would not be in the top 100.\u201d<\/p>\n

Londoners turned to social media to offer\u00a0tea<\/a>, hugs, use of their toilets and\u00a0even gin<\/a>\u00a0to people caught up in the attack.<\/p>\n

Chelsea and Fulham Dentist<\/a>, a practice close to the station, offered comfort food like cookies and the use of its power sockets. Hugh Coyne, a physician at a nearby medical practice,\u00a0went to the scene to offer help to emergency workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Credit: The\u00a0New York Times<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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