7 July 2005 London bombings

On Thursday 7 July 2005 a series of four bomb attacks struck London's public transport system during the morning rush hour. At 8:50 a.m. (BST, UTC+1), three bombs exploded within 50 seconds of each other on three London Underground trains. A fourth bomb exploded on a bus at 9:47 a.m. in Tavistock Square. The bombings led to a severe, day-long disruption of the city's transport and mobile telecommunications infrastructure.

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Thursday - 7 July - 2005 - London's - Public transport - Rush hour - BST - UTC - Bomb - London Underground - Bus - Tavistock Square - Telecommunication

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Fifty-six people were killed in the attacks, including the four suspected bombers, with 700 injured. The incident was the deadliest single act of terrorism in the United Kingdom since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 (which killed 270), and the deadliest bombing in London since the Second World War.

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Terrorism - United Kingdom - Pan Am Flight 103 - Second World War

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Police investigators identified four men whom they believed to be suicide bombers. These are the first suicide bombings in Western Europe, and are thought to have been planned by Islamist paramilitary organisations based in the United Kingdom; the terrorist organization al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.

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Suicide bombers - Western Europe - Islamist - Al-Qaeda

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The bombings came while the UK was hosting the first full day of the 31st G8 summit, a day after London was chosen to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, two days after the beginning of the trial of fundamentalist cleric Abu Hamza, five days after the Live 8 concert was held there, and shortly after Britain had assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

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UK - 31st G8 summit - 2012 Summer Olympics - Fundamentalist - Cleric - Abu Hamza - Live 8 - Rotating presidency - Council of the European Union

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On 21 July 2005, a second series of four explosions took place on the London Underground and a London bus. However, this time only the detonators of the bombs exploded, and all four bombs remained undetonated. There were no fatalities: the single injury reported at the time was later revealed to be a hospitalised asthma sufferer. All suspected bombers from this failed attack have been arrested by police.

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21 July - 2005 - Second series of four explosions - Asthma

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