5 Minute Guide: Attack on London

Last Modified: 01 Feb 2007

A day after winning its Olympic bid, London got the bad news it had been dreading. Suicide bombers struck on underground trains and a bus, killings dozens and injuring hundreds.

What happened

The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated bomb blasts that killed 52 people and injured more than 770.

The attacks were carried out by Islamic terrorists during rush hour, as millions of people made their way to work.

Three explosions took place within 50 seconds of each other at about 8.50am on three underground trains: one near Liverpool Street station, one near Edgware Road station and another travelling between King's Cross and Russell Square stations.

A final blast occurred about an hour later on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, not far from King's Cross. The attacks crippled London's transport system.

Why did it happen?

The Metropolitan Police said the attacks were carried out by men with a "fierce antagonism to perceived injustices by the West against Muslims."

It was reported that within a day of the attack, a website with an affiliation to al-Qaida claimed responsibility.

"What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a string of attacks."
Shehzad Tanweer

The website blamed the UK's involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the US invasion of Afghanistan. But this link was denied by the British government.

A martyrdom video of bomber Shehzad Tanweer was aired a year after the attacks, apparently explaining the bombers' motivations.

Tanweer, whose bomb killed seven people on a train at Aldgate, said in the video: "What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a string of attacks that will continue and become stronger - until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq".

What happens next?

Following the attacks, Tony Blair, who was at a G8 summit in Scotland when the blasts happened, said: "It is a very sad day for the British people but we will hold true to the British way of life."

The British prime minister said the War on Terror would continue and denied that the UK's foreign policy was responsible, despite reports it was policy in Islamic countries that galvanised the terrorists.

Revelations the bombers were born and bred in Britain caused a great degree of soul-searching in the UK, as the nation's much-heralded tolerance of different cultures was called into question.

The government has since pleaded with parents to inform on their own children if they suspect them of extremism.

The main players

Mohammed Sidique Khan
Khan detonated his bomb on the underground train near Edgware Road station, killing seven people.

The 30-year-old father-of-one worked as a teaching assistant. He was the son of Pakistani immigrants, and grew up in the Beeston area of Leeds.

After the attacks a video of Khan was released in which he said: "Until we feel security, you will be our targets.

"Until you stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture of my people we will not stop this fight. We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation."

Shehzad Tanweer
Tanweer detonated his bomb on the underground train near Aldgate station, killing seven others.

The 22-year-old was born in Bradford but, like Khan, lived most of his life in the Beeston area of Leeds.

He had studied sports science at Leeds Metropolitan University.

In a video released a year after the attacks Tanweer said: "What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a string of attacks that will continue and become stronger - until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq".

Germaine Lindsay
Lindsay carried out the most deadly of the bombings, killing 26 at Russell Square. He was 19 and born in Jamaica, but spent his childhood in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

Unlike the other bombers who were born into Muslim families, Lindsay converted to Islam in 2000, and took the name Jamal.

At school he was disciplined for handing out leaflets in support of al-Qaida.

Lindsay was married to a white convert to Islam, with whom he had a young boy. A daughter was born after his death.

Hasib Mir Hussain
Unlike the other three bombers, Hussain carried out his attack on a double-decker bus at Tavistock Square, killing 13 people.

The 18-year-old was still living with his parents in Holbeck, Leeds, at the time of the bombings.

As with Khan, his parents were of Pakistani origin. He was the youngest of four children.