A Look Back At The London Attacks Of July 2005

It

was an attack made all the more frightening for what had come before, but though today’s assaults on London's transit system were similar in target to the ones that killed 56 people just two weeks ago, they were, thankfully, dissimilar in result. Only one person has been reported injured today when four blasts hit three Tube stations and a bus. But the reminder of how much worse it could have been has put London residents on edge.

	A Second Wave of Bombings • London Attacked Again A new round of blasts shake London • Photos: London's mass transit system suffers four new blasts • Map: The July 21 attacks The First Attacks • Back to Work TIME's staffers give first-person accounts of their morning journey as Londoners return to their commute the day after a deadly attack • The Rail System • A Cyclist's Haven • On the Buses • Walking the Walk • Photos: Eyewitness Images of the Attacks Personal cameras and cell phones record the terror of the day • Series of Explosions in London Dozens die as terrorists hit Britain's capital in the crowded rush hour • President Bush Responds to London Attacks In Gleneagles, the President says he'll continue the fight on terror • Photos: London Carnage • Map: The Bombings • Question of the Week • TIME Collection: al-Qaeda • Photos: A New Blitz Fortune.com • The July 7 London Blasts: A Firsthand Account A FORTUNE editor finds himself on a bus right behind the one that was bombed today in the U.K. CNN.com • Special: London Terror • Complete Video Coverage

At the Warren Street tube station on one of the busiest shopping streets in the heart of London, police wearing fluorescent yellow jackets swarmed the station while riders filed out of subway cars to safety above ground. Sofiane Mohellebi, 35, was traveling on the Victoria line when he smelled what he describes as "burning tires and wires" in his car. Mohelleei said that he did not hear anything, and did not see any smoke, but that the smell was overwhelming. He said that people started to panic as soon as they smelt the burning. "I could not figure out why people were panicking," he said, " but I realized that there was no time to think."

Riders started to make their way out of the subway car, and ran into the car ahead of them. Abena Adofo, 23, said she was daydreaming when the door of her car burst open and up to 20 people ran in. People pushed their way to the other side of the train in confusion and someone pulled the passenger alarm. "I was shaky and scared," she said, "but like everyone else, I was trying to get out." According to Adofo, an IT trainer who was heading back home to East London when the incident occurred, even though there was panic, the subway passengers thought of their fellow riders as they tried to leave the station. "People were helping each other," she said.

As always in these kinds of attacks, there was a tremendous amount of confusion, and unexplained incidents. Michelle Sinclair, 24, was eating lunch at a nearby restaurant when the events occurred at Warren Street. When police cordoned off the street she said, she saw a call pull up with two members of the British transport police inside. They went into the station and grabbed a tanned skinned man with shoulder length hair, wearing a backpack and hurried him into the back of the car. According to Sinclair, the man did not struggle as car sped off.

Around the corner from the Warren Street station at University College Hospital, three heavily armed police officers wearing flak jackets and two police officers with bomb sniffing dogs stormed into the emergency room soon after the blasts went off. Police sealed off the 16-story building, amidst rumors that someone had left the site of the explosions and had run into the ER. "I've never seen so many police in my life, running around rapidly with their guns," said one woman. "It was very hectic and we weren't told anything." For the police, the search for answers has already begun.