Terrorists have struck London, just a day after the city jubilantly reacted to winning the 2012 Olympic games. Explosions in the Tube, a.k.a. London’s subway system and on a signature red, double-decker bus murdered dozens while leaving hundreds injured. The death toll has climbed to 38 50. Responsible: the “Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in Europe”.
The BBC discovered a brief statement claiming ownership of the horrific attacks; I’ll never understand how the words “God”, “merciful”, “compassionate” and “peace” can be used right before a proud admission of guilt.
Nation of Islam and Arab nation: Rejoice for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist Crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters.
Sick, sick, sick. Blessed raid? Does anyone else want to cry?
A shaken Tony Blair left the G8 summit to attend to his city. Here’s what he had to say:
“They are trying to use the slaughter of innocent people to cow us, to frighten us out of doing the things that we want to do,” he said in a televised statement from Downing Street.
They “should not and they must not succeed,” he said.
“We know that these people act in the name of Islam but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent and law-abiding people who abhor those who do this every bit as much as we do,” he added.
Indeed, there is much concern about vigilantes exacting revenge and undermining the safety of Muslims in England. Muslim Association of Britain president Ahmed Sheikh is especially worried about women who wear headscarves. Sheik advised that they limit their travel due to their visibility. Apparently, there has been an upward trend of attacks on Muslim women on buses recently. I had no idea.
Since it was London that was attacked, I knew that brown people must have been affected by this tragedy. Abhi sent me the picture to the right, confirming my fears. He raised an excellent point;
It struck me because its plain to see that brown people are the victims too, which often isn’t apparent to the general public.
Word.
If you want to read what “real people” thought and felt, check out these two pages of eye-witness accounts of the blasts which I found on the BBC’s website. Here are a few of the comments contributed by South Asians. The first is just haunting:
I reached Euston station by Silverlink county at close to 9am, walked to Euston square tube to find police blocking it. So went back to Euston central again to access Euston underground, cops evacuating there too, saying Liverpool st possible explosion. So took no 59 bus to reach Holborn. As the bus passed a bit after Tavistock square park, we heard an explosion – something like a big bang , sort of muffled inside a metal container. We looked back from the upper deck – saw a huge metal scrap thing on the road, with a few fumes coming out, someone was on the road trying to pull something out of it. All of us panicked and hurried to get out of bus, people losing it completely. I am lucky to be writing this. This was the first time I smelt death so near.
Krishnakumar Nair, Wembley Middlesex
I am on Edgware Road, it has calmed down now but was chaotic in the morning. Luckily I decided to come through Marble Arch station today instead of Edgware Road. The jubilee line stopped at Baker St so I had to walk since all buses were packed. The Jubilee line and staff at the station handled the evacuation very well and managed to clear all passengers out of the underground very quickly. Well Done! Members of staff helped people to find alternative routes as well.
Vishal, Edgware Road
I was on the train between Kings X and Russell Square – loud bang just about 100M out from Kings X – carriage filled with thick black smoke and plunged into darkness briefly – a few people freaked out but generally everyone was calm thinking it was a power surge – no idea that it was a terrorist attack – we evacuated out the back of the train about 30 mins after being trapped. The smoke made us think it was a fire at first but then the smoke didn’t seem to increase and people thought it was just dust thrown up by the blast. The carriage was packed and claustrophobic.
Gurvinder Mahl, London
I’m beyond thankful that London-based, “friend of SM” Laura is okay. She emailed her first-person take to a few of us this morning. Some excerpts from her riveting account:
It is SURREAL over here in London with the transport bombings. I was on my way to work and they made us get off at Stratford (heart of the Olympic bid, huge statue of medalist runner Kelly Holmes), saying the Central Line was suspended due to an electrical failure. This had happened a few weeks ago, so I start heading down to the Jubilee Line, and they suddenly evacuate the station. So I get on a bus and text my boss the situation, and she texts back saying she’s been stuck on a train for over an hour coming from the north…
I get online and read about the rush-hour bombings. HOLY CRAP. That’s a little too close to home — had S gone to work early, he coulda been one of the 90 casualties at Aldgate East. I work just one station away.
This vignette made me smile through my sorrow; I love how “other” brown people can be so patient with racist curmudgeons. I say other because I know I wouldn’t have been as smooth as this guy:
…there was no point for me to stay in the center of all the chaos. I stopped off at the post office first, where this old biddy was going off on foreigners, and how they should all be kicked out of the country. She kept ranting about Al-Qaeda and such until I finally got pissed off and said “What about the Irish? They bombed you too!” She screeched that they only bombed buildings, not innocent people.
Well, that’s patently untrue, but this other woman tried to keep the peace by saying that there are lots of mixed-race people these days, so it’s hard to say anything. What? Anyway, the Asian employee kept laughing,saying “Why would Al-Qaeda bomb Aldgate East, near the mosque?” (which is true, I mean, you couldn’t -possibly- attack a more Muslim area of town than that) He obviously knew the woman, and called her by name and was helping her pay her utility bills, but then he said “You should be careful what you say, you might offend some people.”
The buddi knows who did it?
“I don’t care what people think, this is my country. I was born here, I didn’t come over here on a boat, I can say what I like.” Finally she calmed down and her final statement was “Maybe it was the frogs.” Yes, bereft at losing their Olympic bid, some terrorist French athletes head over the Channel to exact revenge. 🙂
Anyway, I had to walk out east for a while until I found a functioning bus line, and it took me like 90 min to get home rather than my usual 40 min. The TV news is USELESS, they’re just telling everyone to stay where they are, and repeating the same information. One channel says 2 fatalities, another says 12, my coworkers had said 20 before I left work over 2 hours ago. I’d been reading that it was 4 tube stations and 2 buses, TV says 3 stations and one bus (but damn, that photo of the blown-out double-decker bus is mental), apparently more bombs are being found and exploded in a controlled way. Fucking hell. I’m sure everyone will know more later. Wonder how this will affect transport in general. Mobile phones aren’t able to call each other, so everyone’s texting madly asking if everyone is OK.
Like every other American who was in New York or D.C. four years ago, I can’t stop thinking about that September morning as I read the Beeb or emails like this. The frantic and futile dialing of cell phones, the confusing and conflicting information on the news, the sickening moment when I grasped exactly what was happening to the east coast, the shudder of guilty relief as I found out my loved ones were okay, the horror while listening to hysterical friends talk about how they missed tragedy by mere seconds, the sound of my mother’s weeping when she discovered I was safe…I wouldn’t wish that nightmare on any city, least of all London.
I have to take the metro somewhere and I find myself procrastinating because I know that like the subway line I live on, everything will be orange today. That’s a picture of the D.C.-metro and yes, that officer is toting a submachine gun. I swear I won’t be a cowardly lion about this for much longer. Laura and everyone else in London have been through plenty, I’m sure that I can muster up the balls to take a damned train.
:+:
May the deluded criminals who wrought this carnage get all they deserve.
Punjabi Boy, if you’re out there, please let us know that you’re okay.
Looks like Rome is possibly next on the list. It is not as if these Muslim fanatics are very secretive about their intentions. Just months after Bin Laden isued his “fatwa” against the Americans, the emabassies in Africa were hit. But as usual the befuddled politicians will not act. Instead, they waste their time on more useless “this is not true Islam” babblings. Till they admit that it is the other way around, there can be no victory. I doubt that will happen.
Friday July 8, 6:43 PM
Group threatens al Qaeda attacks on Rome DUBAI (Reuters) – A group claiming links to al Qaeda threatened to attack Rome to punish Italy for supporting the United States, and praised the bomb blasts in London, a Web statement said on Friday.
The statement did not appear on Web sites normally used by Islamist militants loyal to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
“We warn Rome, the capital of infidels, that the lions of Jihad in Europe are ready to launch strong strikes against the collaborating government with the crusaders, the Americans, the enemies of God, the Prophet and Muslims,” it said.
“With the help of God, a group of honourable mujahideen carried out successful attacks on three (London) underground stations and a bus,” said the statement in the name of the little-known Organisation of al Qaeda – Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula.
It gave timings for each of Thursday’s attacks, referring to them as “explosions”, implying they were not suicide attacks, which militants normally describe as “martyrdom operations”.
More than 50 people were killed in the coordinated rush-hour attacks which Britain said bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.
Seven hundred people were also wounded when three explosions tore through crowded London underground trains within an hour and another ripped the roof off a double-decker bus.
The previously unknown Secret Group of al Qaeda – Jihad in Europe on Thursday claimed responsibility for the attacks, but British and U.S. officials said it was not clear the claim was authentic.
There was no way to verify the authenticity of Friday’s statement purporting to come from an al Qaeda-linked group.
Siddhartha, To be fair to Andrew, he probably received an email from someone and he posted the email. Also the last line there says ” As a Muslim, I am horrified by these attacks in Britain.” It doesnt exactly mean that the person is ashamed of being a Muslim. Obviously someone emailed this to Andrew. This was also picked up by some dj from colorado on MWU. I have also seen the same statement at a different blog too. Such are the ways of the internet.
fair enough, al mujahid, and perhaps i was being a bit too suspicious.
true indeed, brother, true indeed. lots of unattributed, lifted, and concocted material out there. a caution for us all. i still think it was a bit rapid, to say the least, of andrew to title the post “a muslim emails” and add no elaboration or attribution.
have you read “good muslim, bad muslim” by mahmood mamdani? great stuff.
peace
Sorry, I know this is breaking from the de rigeur “we stand with you” sentiments above, but I really don’t feel much about these attacks on a visceral level. Intellectually, I am sad and am disgusted that innocent civilians were murdered. But I don’t feel it on a gut level.
Why should I? Because they were European? Because it could happen to me? Innocent people die everyday in very horrible ways. Innocent Iraqis who die everyday are often not “stood with.”
I’m not questioning A N N A’s right to be disgusted and “want to cry,” but sorry, shit hits the fan everyday. Sad to see that only certain “innocent” victims deserve an outpouring of sympathy.
I thought they had a “war” on terror going on. I think in “war” opponent also strikes and sometimes is succesful in striking. So why all the dis-belief? (also isnt there a saying “All is fair in … and war”)
(also isnt there a saying “All is fair in … and war”)
you want to trot out that stupid cliche NOW? that’s so appropriate. yes, it was very fair for innocent Londoners, many of whom were probably AGAINST the WOT to be killed. wtf?
i wonder if both of my predecessors are proud of themselves for bucking the “de rigeur” wave of sympathy for victims of terror (how dare we!). you’re so rebellious and cool!
Sad to see that only certain “innocent” victims deserve an outpouring of sympathy.
writing or responding to a post like this doesn’t prevent someone from feeling sympathy at other tragedies. i know that’s tough to grasp, but trust me, it’s true.
have you read “good muslim, bad muslim” by mahmood mamdani? great stuff.
I have though I thought some of the rhetoric in the book was over the top. Btw mamdani is a Gujju. Thought provoking nevertheless.
what about … “we are fighting there so we dont have to fight them at home”
there are innocents getting killed everyday in Iraq …those who are getting killed are also against Zaraqawi and Bin-laden … what about that??? WTF ???
Same old sh*t about …how we are so sorry about innocent people .. so if you are sorry be sorry for %%% ALL %%% innocent people. And if you cant stand the heat get out of the sun (If you cant take casualties dont get into war)
To add to the comments from LitigationIsHot, I feel the same way. Maybe, it is because human life is less valued in India than in the west? Maybe, because the limited coverage of bigger disasters in the subcontinent galls me? (example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4645801.stm. Granted, A flood is not as apocalyptic as a culture war, but I don’t see these 135+ deaths covered on the front page of the NY Times, even when it breathlessly reports on the 135 mph winds of hurricane Dennis).
Yes, I do feel sympathy for Londoners and condemn terrorists and all that. But I also sorta have to agree with the last few comments.
It is quite ridiculous when I talk to friends in England who’re like, ‘You don’t know what it is to live in this sort of eerie scary situation etc etc’.
I wish I could remind them that I grew up in Bombay, lived through several religious riots, complete with curfew and all, and the 1993 bomb blasts which killed hundreds.
Of course, they never heard of it, it was never front-page news in any paper in the west.
Yeah, along with sympathy for Londoners, I just have a spontaneous attitude of ‘Been there, done that, your turn now’. I’m sorry, I guess I’m just an evil person.
R
on a side note, I wanted to thank all of you guys- ANNA for posting the story, and every commenter; politics and world policy not being my forte, I have learned so much from the discussions on this site.
Thanks!
Not all muslims are the same. Just like not all jews are the same or christians are the same. These terrorists should be ashamed to call themselves muslims. This is not islam. and all these terrorist idiots will soon come to know that they have made a grave mistake and do not represent islam in any form or manner.
This is not islam.
This is poor education and criminal behaviour.
Be it islamic, jewish or christian.
Just like there are gay pedophile priests out there raping your little sons and calling themselves messengers of Jesus and God, there are also Arab/Pakistani doing the same mistake by killing. These are all criminals.
And they should all be put in hell fire.
In the Quran, God says that all those who are good and believe in God in islam, judaism and christianity will be rewarded. God does not choose any one over the other. We are all His creatures. And to have all muslims represented by a stupid muslim terrorist group is defamatory and biased.
I am a muslim, who has jewish and christian friends and family. Some communities would never ever dare differentiate between each other and we respect each other’s holidays and celebrate them together. This is peace. This is right.
What everybody else is doing is wrong.
God help you.
gay
kill those ass hole terrorists………….!!!!!!!! do not leave them alive..
ladies and gentleman i am a muslim but im not a terrorist i have lived in london my whole life ever since i was born london is like my second city i come from but remember there are some innocent muslims who want the world to be in peace epecially from bangladesh and pakistan so all YOU FUCKING ASS HOLES SHUT UP (DID THE CAPITALS ON PURPOSE NOT BY ACCIDENT) UR ALL FUCKING SHITTY PEOPLE ONE DAY I HOPE U GO 2 HELL!!!!!!!!!! FUCK OF DUMB ASS PLONKER