Metropolitan Police Press statement and Press Conference Audio

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The police have now set up a casualty bureau number on 0870 1566344.

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Latest news on London critical incident
There are four confirmed sites where police are dealing with reported explosions this morning. These are:

1) Russell Square and King’s Cross underground
2) Moorgate, Aldgate, and Liverpool Street underground
3) Edgware Road underground
4) Tavistock Square, where there has been a confirmed explosion on a bus.

The emergency services are working together in a co-ordinated response and liaising with hospitals to rescue those injured.

The London Underground system has been suspended however the Network Rail system is still in operation. We would urge anyone who doesn’t need to come into London today not to do so. If you are already in London wherever possible please limit travelling around the capital.

The Met continues to respond to 999 emergency calls but non-emergency calls will have a seriously delayed response.

We cannot at this stage confirm the number of those injured, though casualties are multiple. There are believed fatalities but again numbers are not confirmed.We are also asking members of the public not to contact police at this stage
unless it is a genuine emergency.

There is likely to be some disruption to children’s journeys home from schools. Schools will be liaising with local education authorities to ensure that children are kept safe until arrangements can be made with their parents to collect them.

We will be issuing a telephone number shortly for Casualty Bureau.

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Statement from Commissioner

There have been at least six explosions in London this morning.

We are advising members of the public not to travel into London. Public
transport in London will be affected in the next few days.

We are also asking members of the public not to contact police at this stage
unless it is a genuine emergency.

We are co-ordinating the other emergency services in responding to this
major incident.

We will be issuing a telephone number shortly for worried relatives.

It is too early to confirm the numbers of casualties at this stage.

We hope to have the situation under control very soon.

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BBC update page at:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/default.stm

Indymedia update page at:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/07/316983.html


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and ........



Police recalled from G8 duty

Debbie Andalo and agencies
Thursday July 7, 2005

Metropolitan police officers were this afternoon being brought back to London from duty at the G8 summit, it has been confirmed.

Many of the 1,500 officers who had been deployed to Scotland during the summit are returning to the capital to tackle the aftermath of this morning's attacks on the capital.

Officers who have forensic and evidence gathering skills are among those being recalled, said the Fife chief constable, Peter Wilson.

Mr Wilson, in charge of G8 policing, said: "The absolute priority for us is to make sure we now meet their needs and redeploy officers as quickly as possible in order to deal with this crisis.

He said it was likely the 1,500 officers in Scotland from the Met - which has a force of 30,000 officers - would be going back to London.

The police officers from London were part of a special force of 12,000 officers created from across Scotland, England and Wales to police the G8 summit. Mr Wilson insisted he would still have more than enough cover to cope with any trouble from anti-capitalist protesters.

He said: "Many of those officers would anyway have been returning to their own forces over the next 24 hours. We are currently searching our databases to identify which officers, particularly those with forensic and evidence gathering skills, can best respond to those needs."

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1523453,00.html?gusrc=rss

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I am so sorry to hear of these events. I wish those involved and caught up in these events as speedy recovery as possible. Further I offer my condolences to those families affected by these dreadful events with the loss of their loved ones. I feel very sad.

Tash [Alan Lodge]