Suspected bomber shot in London

A SUSPECTED suicide bomber was shot in London today.

Passengers were evacuated from a train on the Northern Line at Stockwell, south London, after hearing what appeared to be shots being fired. Police were unable to confirm details of any incident.

Passenger Briony Coetsee said: "We were on the Tube and then we suddenly heard someone say 'get out, get out' and then we heard gunshots."

Two tube lines were suspended following the incident.

Defence expert Professor Michael Clarke said it did not appear that yesterday's attackers were from the same network that carried out the July 7 atrocities.

Prof Clarke, director of the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College, London, said yesterday's attacks looked "very amateurish''.

"It looks like determined imitators who perhaps must have planned this a little while ago,'' he said.

"You couldn't plan this sort of thing and create the explosives just at two weeks' notice.

"But it doesn't look quite like the same network behind it.''

Prof Clarke said the group may have been "loosely associated'' with the July 7 perpetrators but may not have known them.

He said it seemed "very odd'' that they had not made sure the explosives detonated. And they did not look like determined suicide bombers.

"It doesn't feel like a second determined attack of the sort that two weeks ago was determined to create,'' he said.

But he said that "either by luck or judgment'' they had got what they wanted - to create a sense of continuity.

"For determined terrorists one attack is never enough... you want to create a series so that there is a feeling that there is a campaign, there is a feeling that this will go on and on. That's the way terrorists try to affect people's psychology.''

Nigel Holness, of Transport for London, said he expected more people to be searched on the Underground.

But he said using metal detectors and bag X-rays would be hugely disruptive with three million journeys a day on the Tube and half a million at peak times.

"It is impossible to search and scan those people,'' he said.

Mr Holness told the Today programme: "We are a massive city and we have got an accountability to move people from home to work and back again safely, and we need to do everything that is possible to ensure people's safety. We need to do it in a balanced way.''

Michael Cassidy, the president of the London Chamber of Commerce, said the business community wanted more security measures.

He told the Today programme he wanted more random stop-and-search of pedestrians.

Mr Cassidy said the attacks would affect business. He said the hotel industry in particular was looking "somewhat gloomy'', but the financial sector was "pretty robust''.

He said visitors should still come to London.

"People are resilient and they will carry on and defy these attacks,'' he said.

"This is a world-class city, it is a huge magnet for the world and I don't think this is going to be enough to put off visitors in large numbers.''

Warren Street station remained closed this morning and under heavy police guard as commuters travelled into central London.

Dozens of uniformed officers, many wearing reflective vests, were posted across the exits and the large, busy, neighbouring junction at Euston Road.

An ambulance and several police vans were parked down a side road.

Police tape cordoning off the scene was stretched from street railings and around the wing mirror of an open florist's van which had to be abandoned yesterday in the panic of the terror alert.

A florist and a luggage stall, complete with suitcases and bags still set out on the pavement, could be seen inside the police cordon.

Joanna Beeching, of Battle, east Sussex, who was on her way to work in the computer department at Network Rail, said she would not allow the terror attacks to disrupt her life.

She said: "I work about 100 yards from Warren Street and I just have to carry on.

"You cannot interrupt your life. It is bad that this has happened but you just have to get on with business - that's it.

"We are dealing with a mindset of people who seem to want to try and destroy life in a country where they do not understand the culture - I do not understand it.''

She watched the drama unfold at the station yesterday from her office.

She said: "We just saw people running and jumping over the barrier. After an hour we just got locked down because we are in the police cordon area.

"Then it was business as usual. I'm glad that no one was hurt and that the bombs did not go off.''

Another commuter, who did not wish to be named, said: "We have just got to get on with life. Unfortunately, it is one of the things you have got to get used to. I was expecting this for a long time.

"I worry about travelling on public transport, worry about what's going to happen next.

"It happened yesterday and could happen again but we have got to keep on travelling into work, we have no choice.''

The Saudi ambassador to London said the attacks on the capital had "all the hallmarks'' of al Qaida.

Prince Turki al-Faisal said: "The modus operandi, the sheer cowardice associated with them and the attacks on innocent civilians - these are all part and parcel of al Qaida.''

Prince Turki said it was a "true criticism'' of London that it was too easy for extremists to stay and preach messages of hate.

He said the Government should exercise more control over them and deport rogue preachers.

"Allowing them to go on using the hospitality and the generosity of the British people to emanate from here such calls for killing and such, I think is wrong,'' he told the Today programme.

Asked if Iraq was a factor in the attacks, Prince Turki said "all areas of grievance'' were used as means of recruitment by terror groups.

He said "solving the problems'' would hit recruitment. But he added: "It is not going to stop these terrorists. Terrorism has been with humanity for much longer than that.''

Prince Turki, who was formerly head of Saudi foreign intelligence and is now to become Saudi ambassador to the US, also defended his country's record in tackling extremists.

He said it was doing everything it could and working very closely with Britain. But he added it was difficult to stop extremists entering Saudi Arabia from Iraq because of its 560-mile (900-kilometre) joint border, which was unmanned on the Iraqi side.