London hit again

- London was shaken but not bloodied by bus
and train blasts that clearly echoed those two weeks ago in the choice of
targets but not in their deadliness. Three strikes hit the British capital's
underground rail network and a fourth device went off on a red double-decker
bus, just as on July 7 when more than 50 people died, but this time only one
person was hurt. As anxiety eased, Londoners wondered if luck had spared them
fresh carnage or if they had been victims of copycat attacks just aimed to
scare, but the city police chief was in no doubt. "The intention must have been
to kill," Ian Blair said.

Passengers on at least two of the "Tube" trains told of would-be bombers
fleeing after the small, near-simultaneous lunchtime explosions, which police
said might have been detonators going off but failing to trigger a bomb. Friday
newspapers focused on the fact the perpetrators appeared to have got away. "Four
suicide bombers on the loose," was the tabloid Sun's headline. "I was sitting on
the Tube not paying much attention to anything and I heard a pop, like a really
big balloon had burst, then I saw a little smoke," passenger Kate Reid told the
BBC. "I saw a bag on the floor next to a young man who looked really scared. We
pulled into the Oval station and he just sprinted away as soon as the doors
opened