Parsons Green tube explosion: May says threat level remains at severe - as it happened

Here’s an updated version of where things currently stand:

15 Sept 201709.27 EDT

Sarah Marsh

Louis Hather, 21, a programmer from London, hurt his leg in the scramble to escape the train. He said:

I was facing away from the bomb when suddenly I heard screams; they were the kind of screams that tell you something serious had happened.

I immediately thought: ‘There’s been a terror attack.’ There was something about the urgency in the way people were trying to get away that made me think that. It was sheer panic.

I knew I had to get out as soon as I could so I ran towards the stairs but everyone was rushing and lots of people were falling along the way. I tried to stay up but was being pushed all over the place. There was a big crush on the stairs, with a pile-up about half way down.

People were falling over each other and being stepped on. I tried to steady myself by putting my arm against the wall. But in the end I fell over and I lost a shoe and my bag in the rush.

Somehow I managed to get out and into the street but my stuff was still inside. I heard someone say that there was a flash and a bang in the carriage and that a chemical covered the carriage.

They said there was a burning smell, like burning plastic. When it was calmer I eventually went back to get my bag and shoe back.

After that I left and sat in the park for a bit and got myself together and went home. I sprained my ankle, and my leg was cut from being dragged along the ground. I think that’s how most of injuries occurred. I know there was a guy standing near the bomb and he got away with a burnt coat and I imagine most of the injuries will be down to the crushing.

I feel OK now. I have calmed down from earlier. I have realised it’s not as bad as it could have been and we are lucky. It’s something you don’t expect to happen to you. I was just on my normal commute in and the train was rammed. We were stuck in like sardines. There were so many children going to school on that train. We are so lucky that it seems the bomb did not go off properly.

15 Sept 201709.22 EDT

Jason Burke

One possibility is that the detonator did not set off the main charge, causing the flash and the heat which inflicted burns on casualties but not a powerful blast which would have been much more destructive.

This has happened before: on 21 July 2005 when a series of bombs hidden in backpacks and placed on tube trains by a network of Islamic militants failed to go off.

That attack came just two weeks after 52 were killed in the 7/7 multiple suicide bombing in London targeting public transport. Police rapidly traced those responsible for the abortive attempt and detained them. Analysis found the home-made explosive they had manufactured had not ignited.

The incompetence of terrorists has been one of the key factors that has spared hundreds of lives in recent years. The recent tragic attacks in Barcelona could have been much worse if the leader of the plot had not blown himself up – along with the network’s stockpile of bomb components – hours before they occurred.

Among the many failed incidents in the UK are attempts to bomb a cafe in Exeter (that failed when a bomber set off his own device in a toilet); to bomb a nightclub in London with incendiary devices (that smouldered but did not burn), and to bring down a transatlantic passenger jet (with a bomb in a shoe that proved impossible to ignite).

In the US, a massive blast was avoided in Times Square, New York, because the bomber programmed the wrong time, while in Yemen in 2000 an attempt to sink a US navy ship failed when a dinghy overloaded with explosives sank when it was launched.

The same goes for attacks by extremists motivated by other ideologies. Well under a half of the 150 far-right plots recorded by the Anti-Defamation League in the US between 1993 and 2016 succeeded. In Columbus, Ohio, in April 2016 a rightwing extremist blew his own hands off while allegedly making explosive which authorities said was to be used as a diversion during a bank robbery.

In an incident in Spokane, Washington, in 2011, the FBI arrested a white supremacist who planted a pipe bomb on the route of a Martin Luther King Day parade. It failed to detonate.

Counter-terrorist specialists in the west recognise that the “Four Lions factor” – a reference to the 2010 black comedy by Chris Morris which shows the incompetent attempt by a group of Britons to launch a terrorist campaign – is one of the most important defences against attack.

Putting pressure on safe havens overseas to limit the ability of terrorist groups to provide training, stopping militants from travelling to those that do still exist, increasing the pressure on local networks and limiting communication with expert handlers, while of course making it harder to obtain crucial ingredients for bombs all help ensure potential attackers remain without the means to realise their destructive ambitions.

So too does the elimination of key individuals with high levels of expertise. Western and Middle Eastern intelligence agencies have been trying for years to kill Ibrahim al-Asiri, an al-Qaida extremist in Yemen responsible for a series of ingenious devices which have come close repeatedly to causing appalling destruction. One device would have brought down a passenger plane over the US in 2009 if the bomber had been able to ignite it.

Asiri is at large, despite the decade-long effort to kill or capture him. And so is whoever was responsible for the device left on the tube train in London today.

The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, expressed the city’s solidarity with London, pointing out that memories of last month’s terrorist atrocities in Catalonia were still fresh.

Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, tweeted: “I want to express Spain’s solidarity with, and support for, the British people and authorities. I hope those injured make a swift recovery.”

London ambulance service nows says 19 people were taken to hospital (up from 18 earlier today). Earlier, NHS England said another four injured people had self-presented. It has since said only three people self-presented.

Most of those treated had “minor injuries,” according to Natasha Wills, director of operations for the London ambulance service.

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This image was posted on Facebook less than an hour after the incident as staff a St Mary’s hospital in Paddington waited for the injured to arrive.

Vanesa Garlo Rey wrote: “This is what our NHS looks like in response to a major incident. This is St Mary’s hospital today but I hold no doubt many other hospitals across London too. Once again hats off to the Met police and frontline emergency services. Proud to work with such amazing colleagues.”

Two of the hospital trusts involved in the response – Guy’s and St Thomas’, and Imperial – have said their services are now running as normal.

Supermarket Lidl has offered to help police after one of its bags was apparently used to hold the improvised bomb, PA reports.

The German-owned grocery chain issued a statement just hours after social media photos of the affected District line carriage showed a still-burning bucket inside a Lidl-branded reusable bag.

“We are shocked and concerned to have learned of an incident at Parsons Green this morning and our thoughts are with those affected,” Lidl UK said.

“We will, of course, support the authorities should they need our assistance in their investigations. We are closely monitoring the situation as it develops over the course of the day.”

15 Sept 201708.52 EDT

Circuit board recovered from scene

Vikram Dodd

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Investigators have recovered what appears to be a circuit board from the scene where the device was placed.

It is being examined for clues.

The BBC security correspondent, Frank Gardner, says the security threat level could be raised from severe to critical if the intelligences services conclude that the suspected bomber is still on the loose.

Scotland Yard has confirmed that no one has been arrested so far.

The UK terrorism threat level is currently at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. If it goes critical this would mean an attack is expected imminently.

The government’s emergency committee, Cobra, is meeting this afternoon. It is expected to make a decision about whether the threat level should change.

Here’s more on Trump’s reaction to the explosion.

Other world leaders used more diplomatic language.

In the UK, leaders past and present have added their thoughts.

The home secretary, Amber Rudd, has condemned the suspected attack as “callous and indiscriminate”.

More than 250 people were evacuated from a London Underground train not involved in the incident, the London fire brigade has revealed.

Its director of operations, Tom George, said:

“The brigade was called at 08:21 and firefighters were on the scene within three minutes. Fire crews assisted the London ambulance service in treating casualties on the affected train.

“Firefighters also helped evacuate 253 people from a train not involved in the incident. We continue to support the Metropolitan police and other services at Parsons Green.”