7/7 bombings: Sadiq Khan vows to do 'everything possible' to root out extremism

Senseless carnage: 13 people were killed in the Tavistock Square bus bombing in July 2005

Sadiq Khan marked the anniversary of 7/7 today by vowing to do “everything possible” to protect against another terrorist attack - as survivors called for more to be done to make London safe.

After attending a memorial service in Hyde Park he said it was his “first priority” to keep Londoners secure.

The Mayor spoke on the 11th anniversary of the devastating suicide attacks on the capital’s transport network by four British jihadists that left 52 dead.

A wounded woman is led away from Edgware Road station after the 7/7 attacks(Edmond Terakopian/PA )
PA

A further 700 people suffered life-changing injuries as radical islamists Mohammed Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain, and Jermaine Lindsay, brought terror to the streets of the capital in 2005.

Home Secretary Theresa May was set to attend the Hyde Park memorial and other services were being held at the sites of the bomb attacks.

Mr Khan, who has commissioned a security review into the readiness of London’s emergency services to deal with another major incident, pledged to strengthen links between communities to limit the risk of attack.

He said: “As Mayor, my first priority is to do everything possible to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.

“By strengthening the bonds between Londoners from different backgrounds and focusing on real neighbourhood policing, we are making it easier for people to speak out and help root out and prevent radicalisation and extremism.

Timeline of the 7/7 attacks

This is how events unfolded on Thursday July 7 2005, the day four suicide bombers brought horror to London.

3.58am: A light blue Nissan Micra hired by Shehzad Tanweer, 22, and thought to have had Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, and Hasib Hussain, 18, as passengers is caught on CCTV in Hyde Park Road, Leeds, before joining the M1.

5.07am: Jermaine Lindsay, 19, arrives at Luton station car park in a red Fiat Brava.

6.49am: The Micra arrives at Luton and parks next to the Brava. All four men get out and appear to move items between the two boots before putting on rucksacks.

7.15am: The men enter Luton station and go through the ticket barriers heading to the platform for the Thameslink train to London King's Cross.

7.40am: The train sets off.

8.23am: The train arrives at King's Cross, slightly late after a delay further up the line. The four head in the direction of the London Underground system.

8.30am: Four men fitting their descriptions are seen hugging before splitting up. Khan boards a west-bound Circle Line train, Tanweer an east-bound Circle Line train, and Lindsay a south-bound Piccadilly Line train. Hussain also appears to walk towards the Piccadilly Line entrance.

8.50am: Three bombs explode within a minute on London Underground trains.

Liverpool Street: Seconds after leaving the platform the eastbound Circle Line train is blown up by Shehzad Tanweer - almost certainly in the second carriage from the front. Eight people die including Tanweer, with 171 injured.

Edgware Road: The westbound Circle Line train is blown up by Mohammad Sidique Khan who is also in the second carriage from the front. Seven people including Khan are killed, and 163 injured.

Between King's Cross and Russell Square: Jermaine Lindsay blows himself up in the packed front carriage, killing 27 people including himself and injuring more than 340.

8.55am: Hussain walks out of King's Cross Underground station and tries unsuccessfully to contact the other three.

9.19am: A man thought to be Hussain is seen on a bus to Euston, from where he is believed to have boarded the Number 30 bus.

9.30am: Cobra, the government's national crisis management facility, is activated in response to the explosions.

9.47am: Hussain detonates his bomb on the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square, killing 14 people including himself, and injuring more than 110.

10.21am: Scotland Yard confirms there have been "multiple explosions" in London.

Noon: Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, says: "It is reasonably clear there have been a series of terrorist attacks in London."

Afternoon: There are subsequent statements from Home Secretary Charles Clarke in the House of Commons, and London Mayor Ken Livingstone in Singapore with the 2012 Olympic bid team. Mr Blair returns to London during the afternoon.

5.50pm: United Nations Security Council unanimously condemns the attacks.

10.19pm: Hussain's family reports him missing.

11.40pm: Among several items reportedly found by a police exhibits officer are cards and personal items in the name of "Sidique Khan" and "Mr S Tanweer" at Aldgate.

The Mayor added: “Today, we remember those we lost and the heroic efforts of our emergency services and transport colleagues on that darkest of days.

“We must also ensure that every single individual, and every single agency, involved in protecting our city has the resources and expertise they need to respond to any future major incident, which is why I have instigated a comprehensive preparedness review due to report later this year.”

It came as survivors of the bombings said more should be done to make London safe.

Jacqueline Daukes, 45, was on her way into SOAS for a conference when a bomb was detonated on her Piccadilly line train between King’s Cross and Russell Square.

Twenty-six people on her train were killed, but miraculously she escaped with no injuries.

7/7 bombers, (L-R) Hasib Hussain, Shehzad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Mohammad Sidique Khan 
PA

The community integration charity worker said she hoped Mr Khan, as a Muslim mayor, could better fight homegrown extremism.

She said: “I feel we have to look at the root causes why young Muslim men go to fight in Syria, what are they lacking? What are we not listening to?

“We can’t be naïve because there are people in our community who are evil, the terrorists planned these vicious attacks for a long time.

“We need to listen to one another instead of blaming others and we can avoid the rise in xenophobia since Brexit.

“That is the great thing about London even with all its diversity there is still this Blitz spirit and you could see from the amount of people helping that day we all pulled together.”

Emergency workers at Aldgate station (John Stillwell/PA)
PA

Jacqui Putnam, 65, was in the carriage behind Mohammad Sidique Khan when he detonated his bomb at Edgware Road in one of four co-ordinated strikes.

The business analyst suffered scarring, concussion and had broken glass embedded in her scalp. She needed two years of intense therapy to combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Speaking to the Standard today she welcomed Mr Khan’s calls for a review of the city’s readiness in the event of responding to any future attack.

But she added: “We want to know if TfL have implemented all the changes that were recommended from the inquests. There need to be better first aid kits available at stations, they need to be bigger and well resourced.

7/7 London bombings (2005) - In pictures

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“We want there to be evacuation plans printed at every station, we raised this with TfL and were told ‘they didn’t want to panic anyone’.

“Eleven years on and we’re still none the wiser. I want to know if it happens again - is it going to be the same chaos? Are people going to be trapped like we were?

“The driver, whom I have come to know, said that no one believed that another bomb had gone off when he phoned it in, there needs to be better communication all around.

“This attack was always on the cards and if it happened once it could happen again.”

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