21 July 2005 London attempted bombings
| 21 July 2005 London attempted bombings | |
|---|---|
| Location | Aboard London Underground trains and a bus in Haggerston |
| Date | 21 July 2005 12:26–13:30 (BST) |
| Target | General public |
Attack type | Terrorism, attempted bombings |
| Weapons | Hydrogen peroxide bombs |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 1 (asthma attack) |
| Perpetrators | Muktar Said Ibrahim Yasin Hassan Omar Ramzi Mohammed Hussain Osman Manfo Kwaku Asiedu Adel Yahya |
| Motive | Islamic terrorism as a follow-up to the 7/7 bombings |
On 21 July 2005, four attempted bomb attacks by four Islamist extremists disrupted part of London's public transport system as a follow-up attack to the 7 July 2005 London bombings two weeks earlier. The explosions occurred around midday at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations on the London Underground, and on London Buses route 26 in Haggerston. A fifth bomber dumped his device without attempting to set it off.
Connecting lines and stations were closed and evacuated. Metropolitan Police later said the intention was to cause large-scale loss of life, but only the detonators of the bombs exploded, probably causing the popping sounds reported by witnesses, and a person having a minor asthma attack was the only reported injury. The suspects fled the scenes after their bombs failed to explode.
The next day, Friday, 22 July 2005, CCTV images of four suspects wanted in connection with the bombings were released. Two of the men shown in these images were identified by police on Monday, 25 July 2005 as Muktar Said Ibrahim and Yasin Hassan Omar. The resulting manhunt was described by the Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair as "the greatest operational challenge ever faced" by the Met. During the manhunt, police misidentified a Brazilian citizen, Jean Charles de Menezes, as one of the suspected bombers and shot him dead.
By 29 July 2005, police had arrested all four of the main suspects. Yasin Hassan Omar was arrested by police on 27 July, in Birmingham. On 29 July, two more suspects were arrested in London. A fourth suspect, Hussain Osman, was arrested in Rome and later extradited to the UK. Police also arrested numerous other people in the course of their investigations.
On 9 July 2007, four defendants, Muktar Saáid Ibrahim (29), Yasin Hassan Omar (26), Ramzi Mohammed (25) and Hussain Osman (28), were found guilty of conspiracy to murder. Each was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 40 years' imprisonment.