This morning well before I was awake, some sort of small bomb went off on a tube train in London. While there were some injuries, no fatalities are being reported.
Here’s more:
NY TIMES – 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.
The device exploded at 8:20 a.m. on a District Line train leaving the Parsons Green station in Southwest London.
“This was a detonation of an improvised explosive device,” 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.
The authorities immediately beefed up security around the transit system, as hundreds of police officers and detectives combed the scene for clues.
At least 22 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 “walking wounded.”
“The 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,” said Natalie Belford, 42, a hairdresser and beautician who was on the train. “I 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.”
A photo widely circulated on social media showed a white bucket inside a bag, with wires and flames coming out of it.
#parsonsgreen pic.twitter.com/0OUV819EtE
— Sylvain Pennec (@sylvainpennec) September 15, 2017Passengers 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.
The National Health Service said that 18 people had been taken to hospitals and that another four had gone on their own, including eight at Chelsea and Westminster.
It was the fifth major terrorist attack in Britain this year, following a vehicular and knife attack near Parliament in March, a suicide bombing at a rock concert in Manchester in May, and a van and knife attack around London Bridge and a van attack outside a London mosque, both in June.
Here’s an interview with one of the people who were on the train:
"Mass shouting and screaming… a lady said she'd seen a bag go off" says witness #LondonUnderground #Parsonsgreen pic.twitter.com/zKLxdfvzme
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 15, 2017
A couple of hours ago Trump took to Twitter to condemn the attack in his typical Trumpian way:
Another attack in London by a loser terrorist.These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner.The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
I don’t know if he meant to be indirectly critical of the authorities in London, but I’m sure that is how some will interpret his comments.
He also suggested that if it weren’t for political correctness, his travel ban would be much tougher:
The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
And lastly, on a similar topic, Trump tweeted that his administration has made far more strides against ISIS in the short time he’s been president than Obama did during his entire term:
We have made more progress in the last nine months against ISIS than the Obama Administration has made in 8 years.Must be proactive & nasty!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
Well this is totally believable. When ISIS came to the world’s attention in 2014, Obama clearly didn’t take them seriously. In fact when he was warned they would emerge back in 2012 because of his support for the so-called Syrian rebels, he didn’t take that seriously either.
Back to the terrorist attack, there is a manhunt for the suspects in the ‘terror incident’ going on now. We’ll update you with more later once they are identified.