BBC reports:
A number of Tube stations have been evacuated and lines closed after three blasts in what Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair says is a "serious incident". Sir Ian appealed to Londoners to stay where they were and said the transport system was effectively shut down. The minor explosions used detonators only, a BBC reporter said.
In addition, a Number 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green had its windows blown out by a blast. There were no injuries.
Large areas around Warren Street, Oval and one of the Shepherd's Bush Tube stations have been cordoned off. One person was injured at Warren Street. There were reports the injured person may have been holding a rucksack containing the detonator.
Lines suspended
Police said armed officers had been deployed to University College Hospital after an incident. The whole of the Northern Line has been suspended, along with the Victoria Line and the Hammersmith and City line. Police have set up cordons round the stations
A number of other stations were closed including Westminster tube station, Waterloo tube station and King's Cross Thameslink. There were also reports that St Paul's tube and Oxford Circus tube station were closed. Tony Blair cancelled events in the afternoon and will be attending a meeting of the Cobra committee along with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
The BBC's Andrew Winstanley said devices had been found but appeared to have been dummies, containing no explosives.
London Underground went to an amber alert with trains taken to the next station and evacuated.
An eyewitness at Oval station said there had been a small bang, and a man had then run off when the Tube reached the station.
A spokesman for Stagecoach said the driver of the number 26 bus travelling through Shoreditch had heard a bang on upper deck, gone upstairs and seen the windows were blown out. The bus driver was very shaken but said to be fine.
At Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith and City line station, police told reporters that a man had threatened to blow himself up and then ran off.
Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street. "I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning.
"Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking." The BBC's Rory Barnett said there had been no smoke on the platform at Warren St.
Liz Edwards, who works near Warren Street Underground station, said the area was full of activity. "There are police, fire engines and ambulances all around there. A guy from our office had just come back from the station and said the police were aggressively keeping people away from the station and that you could not get anywhere near it."
| Almost sounds like copycat operation by wantabe terrorists, not a professional job |
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