British Police Arrest Suspect, After Shooting Man in Subway

07/22/2005

By ALAN COWELL and TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
NY Times
Published: July 22, 2005

LONDON, July 22 - One day after four attempted bombings on London’s transport system, police officers today pursued a man onto a subway train and fatally shot him at close range in full view of other passengers, the authorities and witnesses said.

London police released closed circuit television images of four men they were “urgently” seeking in connection with Thursday’s blasts.

Police later said they had made one arrest related to Thursday’s bombings, in Stockwell, south London, the same area as the scene of today’s subway shooting by police. “We attended an address at Stockwell in connection with the ongoing investigation into the incidents yesterday,” a police spokeswoman told Reuters. “We were searching a premises; one man has been arrested.”

The killing threatened to overshadow police efforts to trace four men wanted for Thursday’s failed attacks, which seemed to mirror the far bloodier assault on London’s subway trains and a bus on July 7 when 56 people died in bombings blamed on Islamic extremists.

Earlier, authorities released closed-circuit television images of four men. Assistant Police Commissioner Andy Hayman said the authorities had also searched three homes today, including one in central London, related to the investigation, but gave no details about what officers had been looking for.

“This is a very fast moving investigation,” Sir Ian Blair, chief of the London police, told a press conference. “This is the greatest operational challenge ever faced by the Metropolitan Police Services.”

Four bombs partially exploded Thursday on three subway trains and a bus in London, but no one was killed. On July 7, 56 people - including four suicide bombers - died and 700 others were injured when bombs were detonated on three trains and one bus.

Today, Mr. Hayman said the explosives used in Thursday’s bombings appeared to have been “home made,” but that authorities did not know how they had been detonated. Each had been concealed in a dark colored bag or rucksack.

The man killed by the police at Stockwell subway station today has not been identified, and authorities gave few details about why the victim was apparently being chased by plainclothes officers just before his death.

“Any death is tragic,” said Sir Ian, but he added that the man had been “challenged and refused to obey police instructions.”

A witness told the BBC that the police had fired five shots at the victim from close range.

“I saw them offload five shots into the person on the floor,” Mark Whitby told BBC television. “I saw them kill a man.”

Mr. Whitby said the man was shot by the officers as he ran into the train from the station. “He looked out of place,” Mr. Whitby said, adding that the man was wearing a heavy winter coat in summer.

A passenger at Stockwell station, Briony Coetsee, told the Press Association today, “We were on the tube when we suddenly heard someone say ‘get out, get out’ and then we heard gunshots someone was shooting.”

Other witnesses said a man leaped over the barriers at the station pursued by plainclothes officers. Several witnesses said the police caught up with the man and pushed him to the ground.

Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said the organization was very concerned about the shooting.

“There may well be reasons why the police felt it necessary to unload five shots into the man and shoot him dead, but they need to make those reasons clear,” said Mr. Bunglawala. “It’s vital the police give a statement about what occurred and explain why the man was shot dead.”

Stockwell station is in the same area south of the Thames River as Oval station, one of the targets of Thursday’s attacks. Two subway lines, the Victoria and Northern lines, were suspended after the shooting, plunging London’s transport system once more into chaos.

Photographs taken from closed-circuit television cameras released by the police today show four men, whom the police have not yet identified, inside the stations and on the bus shortly before the bombs exploded. They did not describe the men as the bombers, but made it clear that detectives believe they had some role in the attacks.

Two of the photographs are relatively clear, while the other two are blurred. One of the men is shown with a sweatshirt with “New York City” emblazoned across his chest.

“It is crucial that detectives are able to question them about yesterday’s events,” said Mr. Hayman. The authorities cautioned the public not to approach the men if they see them, but to call an emergency number in order to notify the police.

“We can only defeat this form of terrorism by working with communities,” he said.

He has said that Thursday’s lunchtime attacks were “pretty close to simultaneous.”

Senior police officials and witnesses reported that after the bombs had failed to detonate, the bombers then abandoned their backpacks and fled from the scene. The officials said it was only the detonators on the devices that went off, making sounds like firecrackers. The unexploded devices could provide important clues to the identity of the attackers; two British officials said they believed the explosives contained the same materials as the earlier bombs.

No one was wounded, officials said, though one person sought treatment for an asthma attack. “The intention must have been to kill,” Sir Ian said, “and I think the important point is that the intention of the terrorists has not been fulfilled.”

The attacks spread chaos and confusion as the three subway stations were evacuated, a No. 26 bus stopped short in Bethnal Green, East London, after an explosion on its upper deck, and parts of the London subway and road system came to a halt. In one instance, witnesses spoke of a panic after passengers smelled something burning on one subway car and rushed onto another to escape it, abandoning bags and shoes.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking Thursday after an emergency meeting of his security and intelligence chiefs, said, “We can’t minimize incidents such as this because they obviously have been serious in four different places, as we know.”

“I think all I would like to say is this: We know why these things are done,” Mr. Blair said. “They are done to scare people and to frighten them, to make them anxious and worried.” He had also met Thursday with his Australian counterpart, John Howard.

At first on Thursday, Sir Ian repeated the same message as on July 7, telling Londoners to remain where they were.

But after more than three hours of paralysis in many parts of the city, he said: “The situation is now coming fully under control. We have all four scenes of the incidents confirmed and confined. We have no evidence at the present time, nothing to indicate any kind of attack which involves chemicals or anything else.”

Sir Ian declined to tie the attacks directly to Al Qaeda, as the British authorities did in the immediate aftermath of the July 7 attacks.

The subway bombings two weeks ago were closely synchronized to within seconds of one another, and the bus bomb followed roughly one hour later. The subway bombs on Thursday seemed to be spaced minutes rather than seconds apart.

After the blasts on July 7, the police concluded that four men aged between 18 and 30 had blown themselves up with bombs on the three subway trains and the bus. Since then, investigators have followed leads to northern England, Egypt and Pakistan, but there have been no further arrests.

The police had warned since then that Britain was at risk of further attacks, but Londoners had generally emerged from the shadow of the first attacks and had returned to the subway, which is known here as the Tube. “Until today, Londoners had started to move on,” said Simon Hughes, a Liberal Democratic member of Parliament.

Initial accounts of the lunchtime bombing attempts seemed confused.

At Oval station, on the Northern Line, a police officer who spoke in anonymity according to police regulations, said a man threw a package or backpack into a subway car just before the train moved off. While the train was still in the station, “the device exploded,” the officer said, and the attacker escaped.

“As you can imagine, the train was pretty packed,” the officer said. “It was lunchtime, and it was pretty surprising that no one was hurt.”

At the Shepherd’s Bush station, where the subway line runs above ground, there was no immediate indication from the police about what had happened.

At Warren Street, Ivan McCracken, a passenger, told Sky News that he had heard from a fellow passenger that “a man was carrying a rucksack, and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack.” That reflected similar accounts from emergency workers.

On board the No. 26 bus - a red double-decker like the No. 30 bus blown up on July 7 - there were conflicting reports about the intensity of a reported explosion. Mark Bond, a passenger, said in a broadcast interview that there had been a noise from the rear of the bus.

“Everyone froze for a couple of minutes,” he said. “Then everyone just rushed out. It can hit anyone at any time anywhere. I feel very unsafe.”

At the Oval station, some passengers said the attack had left people feeling powerless.

“You don’t want to start feeling scared to be in your own city,” said Joseph Durrin, 33, a graphic designer. “It’s scary to think terrorists might still be here. There is nothing you could really do about that. How can you stop someone taking public transportation?”

Sir Ian, the police chief, declined to say whether he believed the same group of people had carried out both sets of attacks.

After the July 7 bombing, an Internet posting claimed responsibility in the name of the Secret Organization of Al Qaeda Jihad in Europe.

No group claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack.