On July 7, 2005, bombings bled London. 52 people died, as did the four bombers. More than 700 were injured.
The suicide bombings of years ago, on July 7, by four young British Islamists on the London transport system, coincided with the start of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. They occurred just a day after London won the bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Three bombs exploded almost simultaneously in three subway trains at 8:50 a.m. local time /7:50 a.m. GMT/. An hour later, a fourth bomb exploded on a double-decker London bus.
The London Underground bombings took place at Altgate tube stations in the City of London, Edgware Road, west of the City, and in a tunnel between King's Cross and Russell Square stations in the centre of the capital. The bus was blown up at Tavistock Square, a hundred metres from King's Cross.
The bombers managed to carry the bombs in their backpacks. They were identified through their documents found at the scene of the explosions, as well as through surveillance camera footage of them at Luton station, 40 km north of London, where they met before carrying out the attacks.
Three of the bombers were British of Pakistani origin living in and around Leeds, northern England. The fourth was a British convert of Jamaican origin.
Each of the four bombs used contained about 4.5 kg of a powerful explosive.
Although London linked them to al-Qaeda very soon after the attacks, it remains unclear to this day the extent to which Osama bin Laden's terrorist network was involved in this attack. A report by a British parliamentary committee in May 2006 indicates that two of the suicide bombers most likely came into contact with radical Islamists during their stays in Pakistan in 2003, 2004 and 2005.