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Reluctant Londoners return to Underground
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-08 16:03
Ten of London's 12 subway lines reopened Friday, though service on three was restricted. Bus service was running through central London, except for diversions around blast sites.
Aldona Mosjko, a 21-year-old bagel shop manager from Poland, was among those too frightened to take public transportation Friday. "Normally, I take the bus, but today, I took a taxi. I was a bit afraid," she said.
Shoebridge said detectives will have to watch thousands of hours of video — slowly and carefully. Investigators will try to find on tape the point at which bombs were placed, then trace back the movements of the bomber, a task he said could involve hundreds of cameras.
Shoebridge said investigators also will check records of cell phone calls made in the bombed areas just before the explosions, a job that might be difficult if investigators can't determine where bombers boarded the trains.
Based on evidence recovered from the rubble, investigators believe some of the bombs were on timers, a U.S. law enforcement official said. The official would not further describe the evidence.
Investigators doubt that cell phones — used in the Madrid train attacks a year ago — were used to detonate the bombs in the Underground because the phones often don't work in the system's tunnels, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The "Secret Group of al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe" claimed it was behind the attacks, but the claim could not be immediately verified. In a posting on a Web site, the group said the bombings were punishment for Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq and invasion of Afghanistan.
It threatened to attack Italy and Denmark for their support of the U.S.-led coalitions in both countries, too.
Clarke said authorities were taking the claim of responsibility seriously, and a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said the posting was considered a "potentially very credible" claim, in part because it appeared soon after the attacks. But no one was certain, and one defense official said it was too early to say.
The blasts paralyzed the city's public transportation system Thursday, halting subway service, delaying buses and stranding thousands of residents and tourists.
Scenes of frantic subway passengers covered in soot, some cut and bleeding and flooding out of subway stations flashed across television screens.
As explosions detonated in the vast subway that carries hundreds of thousands passengers a day, subway cars filled with smoke and many broke through the windows to escape or get air. Above ground, buses ferried the wounded and medics used a hotel as a makeshift emergency hospital.
"I didn't hear anything, just a flash of light, people screaming, no thoughts of what it was, I just had to get out of the train," said subway passenger Chris Randall, 28, who was hospitalized with cuts and burns on his face, legs and hands.
The worst attack on London since World War II brought out a stoicism that recalled Britain under the blitz of the Nazi Luftwaffe.
As Wednesday's jubilation at winning the 2012 Summer Olympics gave way to the terrible shock of Thursday's attacks, Blair rushed back to the capital and made a televised appeal for unity, praising the "stoicism and resiliency of the British people."
Both were in evidence across the city, as volunteers helped the wounded from blast sites, commuters lent their phones so strangers could call home, and thousands faced long lines for homeward-bound buses or even longer walks without complaint.
"As Brits, we'll carry on — it doesn't scare us at all" said tour guide Michael Cahill, 37. "Look, loads of people are walking down the streets. It's Great Britain — not called 'Great' for nothing."
Atop Buckingham Palace, the British flag flew at half-staff.
Security was raised in the United States and around the world. The Bush administration upped the terror alert a notch to code orange for the nation's mass transit systems, and bomb-sniffing dogs and armed police patrolled subways and buses in the capital.
Much of Europe also went on alert, and Italy's airports raised alert levels to a maximum.
Police said at least 700 were wounded. Among them, at least 45 were in serious or critical condition, including amputations, fractures and burns, hospital officials told The Associated Press.
At the scene of the bus explosion, bystander Raj Mattoo, 35, said the roof of the double-decker "flew off and went up about 10 meters (30 feet)."
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