7 July 2005 London bombings

7 July 2005 London bombings
Part of Islamic terrorism in Europe
3
1
Liverpool Street Station
2
Edgware Road
3
King's Cross St Pancras/Russell Square
4
Tavistock Square
LocationLondon, England
Date7 July 2005; 19 years ago (2005-07-07)
8:49–9:47 a.m. (UTC+1)
TargetPublic aboard London Underground trains and a bus in Central London
Attack type
Suicide bombings, mass murder, terrorism
WeaponsImprovised explosive devices
Deaths56 (including the 4 bombers)
Injured784
Perpetrators
MotiveIslamic extremism

The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also referred to as 7/7, were a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on London's public transport during the morning rush hour.

Three terrorists separately detonated three homemade bombs in quick succession aboard London Underground trains in Inner London. Later, a fourth terrorist detonated another bomb on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square.[1] The train bombings occurred on the Circle Line near Aldgate and at Edgware Road, and on the Piccadilly Line near Russell Square.

Apart from the bombers, 52 UK residents of 18 different nationalities were killed and nearly 800 were injured in the attacks. It was the UK's deadliest terrorist incident since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 near Lockerbie, and the UK's first Islamist suicide attack.

The explosions were caused by improvised explosive devices made from concentrated hydrogen peroxide and pepper,[2] packed into backpacks. The bombings were followed two weeks later by a series of attempted attacks that failed to cause injury or damage.

  1. ^ "7/7 Anniversary: UK's Risk of Terror Attack Higher Now than Days of London Bombings". Yorkshire Post. 4 July 2015. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  2. ^ McVeigh, Karen (1 February 2011). "July 7 bomb factory revealed at inquest". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2024.