| 21 July 2005 London bombings | |
|---|---|
| Part of Islamic terrorism in Europe | |
  Shepherd's Bush Oval Warren Street Haggerston 21 July 2005 London bombings (Greater London)  Oval Warren Street Haggerston 21 July 2005 London bombings (the United Kingdom) | |
| Location | Aboard London Underground trains and a bus in Haggerston |
| Date | 21 July 2005 12:26–13:30 (BST) |
| Target | General public |
Attack type | Terrorism, attempted bombings |
| Weapons | Hydrogen peroxide bombs |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 1 (asthma attack) |
| Perpetrators | Muktar Said Ibrahim Yasin Hassan Omar Ramzi Mohammed Hussain Osman Manfo Kwaku Asiedu Adel Yahya |
| Motive | Islamic terrorism as a follow-up to the 7/7 bombings |
On Thursday, 21 July 2005, four attempted bomb attacks by Islamist extremists disrupted part of London's public transport system as a follow-up attack from the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The explosions occurred around midday at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations on the London Underground, and on London Buses route 26 in Haggerston. A fifth bomber dumped his device without attempting to set it off.[1][2]
Connecting lines and stations were closed and evacuated. Metropolitan Police later said the intention was to cause large-scale loss of life, but only the detonators of the bombs exploded, probably causing the popping sounds reported by witnesses, and only one minor injury was reported. The suspects fled the scenes after their bombs failed to explode.
On Friday, 22 July 2005, CCTV images of four suspects wanted in connection with the bombings were released.[3][4] Two of the men shown in these images were identified by police on Monday, 25 July 2005 as Muktar Said Ibrahim and Yasin Hassan Omar.[5] The resultant manhunt was described by the Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair as "the greatest operational challenge ever faced" by the Met.[6] During the manhunt, police misidentified Jean Charles de Menezes as one of the suspected bombers and shot and killed him.[7]
By 29 July 2005, police had arrested all four of the main bombing suspects. Yasin Hassan Omar was arrested by police on 27 July, in Birmingham. On 29 July, two more suspects were arrested in London. A fourth suspect, Hussain Osman, was arrested in Rome, Italy, and later extradited to the UK.[8][9] Police also arrested numerous other people in the course of their investigations.
On 9 July 2007, four defendants, Muktar Saáid Ibrahim, 29, Yasin Hassan Omar, 26, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Hussain Osman, 28, were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.[10] The four attempted bombers were each sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 40 years' imprisonment.[11]
- ^ "21 July: Attacks, escapes and arrests". BBC News. 11 July 2007. Archived from the original on 7 February 2008.
- ^ "Jailed preacher, Mohammed Hamid, who trained 21/7 bombers 'linked'". The Independent. 31 May 2013. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
One of the suspects in the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby is believed to have had contact with a 'terrorist instructor' now in prison for running military-style training camps which were used by Islamist extremists including the 21/7 London bombers, The Independent has learnt.
- ^ "21st July 2005 - Metropolitan Police Appeal for Assistance" (PDF). British Transport Police. Archived from the original on 14 December 2005. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "London alerts: At-a-glance". BBC News. 29 July 2005. Archived from the original on 2 June 2009.
- ^ "Timeline: London bombing developments". BBC News. 1 November 2005. Archived from the original on 10 January 2008.
- ^ "London alerts: At-a-glance". BBC News. 29 July 2005. (Timeline for 22 July 2005 at 15:31). Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair describes the investigation into the London bombings as 'the greatest operational challenge ever faced' by the Met.
- ^ "What happened: Death of Jean Charles de Menezes". BBC News. 1 November 2007. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
- ^ "Bomb Suspect May Spend Months in Rome". Sky UK. 31 July 2005. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
- ^ "Police hold four 21 July suspects". BBC News. 30 July 2005. Archived from the original on 20 September 2007.
- ^ "Four guilty over 21/7 bomb plot". BBC News. 10 July 2007. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
- ^ Percival, Jenny (11 July 2007). "Patient wait for life behind bars". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 April 2008.