London+Bombing+2005

=**//__London Bombing 7 July 2005__//**= Happened in 7 July 2005 in London. 3 bombs were detonated in underground trains. A forth in a double-decker bus. 56 people died, including 4 suicide bombers. Over 700 injured. __The suicide bombers__
 * [|**Mohammad Sidique Khan**] (Killed 6)(age 30)
 * [|**Shehzad Tanweer**] (Killed 7)(age 22)
 * [|**Germaine Lindsay**] (Killed 26)(age 19)
 * [|**Hasib Hussain**] (Killed 13)(age 18)

=__//** Initial reports **//__= Initial reports suggested that a power surge in the Underground power grid had caused explosions in power circuits. This was later ruled out by the National Grid plc, the power suppliers. Commentators suggested that the explanation had been made because of bomb damage to power lines along the tracks; the rapid series of power failures caused by the explosions (or power being ended by means of switches at the locations to permit evacuation) looked similar, from the point of view of a control room operator, to a cascading series of circuit breaker operations that would result from a major power surge.

=__//** Security alerts **//__= Although there were security alerts at many locations, no other terrorist incidents occurred outside central London. Suspicious packages were destroyed in controlled explosions around London. Security across the UK was increased to the [|highest alert level]. //[|The Times]// reported on 17 July 2005 that police sniper units were following as many as a dozen Al Qaeda suspects in Britain. The covert armed teams were ordered to shoot to kill if surveillance suggested that a terror suspect was carrying a bomb and he refused to surrender if challenged.

Transport and telecoms disruption [|Vodafone] reported that its mobile telephone network reached capacity at about 10:00 a.m. on the day of the incident, and it was forced to initiate emergency procedures to prioritise emergency calls ([|ACCOLC], the "access overload control scheme"). Other [|mobile phone networks] also reported failures. The [|BBC] speculated that the telephone system was stopped by the security services to prevent the possibility of mobile telephones being used to trigger bombs. Although this option was considered, it became clear later that the intermittent unavailability of both mobile and landline telephone systems was due to excessive usage

=__//** Economic effect **//__= There were limited immediate reactions to the attack in the [|world economy] as measured by [|financial market] and [|exchange rate] activity. The value of the British [|pound] decreased 0.89 cents to a 19-month low against the US$. The [|FTSE 100 Index] decreased by about 200 points during the two hours after the first attack. This was its greatest decrease since the start of the war in Iraq, and it triggered the [|London Stock Exchange]'s special measures, restricting [|panic selling] and aimed at ensuring market stability. However, by the time the market closed it had recovered to only 71.3 points (1.36%) down on the previous day's three-year closing high. Markets in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain also closed about 1% down on the day.

US market indexes increased slightly, partly because the dollar index increased sharply against the pound and the euro. The [|Dow Jones Industrial Average] gained 31.61 to 10,302.29. The [|Nasdaq Composite Index] increased 7.01 to 2075.66. The [|S&P 500] increased 2.93 points to 1197.87 after decreasing as much as 1%. Every benchmark value gained 0.3%.[|[36]] The market values increased again on 8 July as it became clear that the damage caused by the bombings was not as great as thought initially. By end of trading the market had recovered fully to above its level at start of trading on 7 July. Insurers in the UK tend to re-insure their terrorist liabilities in excess of the first [|£]75,000,000 with [|Pool Re], a mutual insurer established by the government with major insurers. Pool Re has substantial reserves and newspaper reports indicated that claims would easily be funded. On 9 July, the [|Bank of England], [|HM Treasury] and the [|Financial Services Authority] revealed that they had instigated contingency plans immediately after the attacks to ensure that the UK financial markets could keep trading. This involved the activation of a "secret chatroom" on the British Government's Financial Sector Continuity website, which allowed the institutions to communicate with the country's banks and market dealers.[|[37]] -Chinese Cougars-