7 July 2005 London Bombings

On the morning of 7 July 2005, four Islamist suicide bombers carried out coordinated attacks on London's public transport network during rush hour. At 8:49 a.m., three bombs exploded within 50 seconds of one another aboard London Underground trains: on a Circle Line train between Liverpool Street and Aldgate, on a Circle Line train that had just left Edgware Road, and on a Piccadilly Line train travelling from King's Cross St Pancras toward Russell Square. Almost an hour later, at 9:47 a.m., a fourth bomb exploded on the top deck of a number 30 double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. All four devices were improvised explosives made from concentrated hydrogen peroxide and pepper, carried in backpacks.

Aside from the four bombers, 52 people were killed and nearly 800 were injured. Victims held 18 nationalities; most were British, and the rest came from countries including Afghanistan, France, Ghana, Grenada, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mauritius, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Vietnam and Australia. Seven victims died in the Aldgate tunnel, six near Edgware Road, 26 near Russell Square, and 13 on the Tavistock Square bus. It was the United Kingdom's deadliest terrorist attack since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie and its first Islamist suicide attack.

The four attackers were identified as Shehzad Tanweer, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Germaine Lindsay, and Hasib Hussain. Three were British-born sons of Pakistani immigrants living in the Leeds area; Lindsay was a convert to Islam born in Jamaica living in Aylesbury. Khan, who worked as a learning mentor, was described as the ringleader. Videotaped statements attributed to Khan and Tanweer, broadcast by Al Jazeera in 2005 and 2006, cited grievances over UK foreign policy in the Middle East as motivation. An al-Qaeda-linked video claimed responsibility, though a subsequent British government inquiry found the tape claiming responsibility had been edited after the attacks and that the bombers had not received direct assistance from al-Qaeda.

Investigations included searches of CCTV footage, forensic examination of blast sites, and police raids on properties in Leeds and Aylesbury, during which explosive materials were recovered. A related case concerned Mohammad Sidique Khan, who had been observed by MI5 in 2001 and 2004 in connection with other subjects of interest but was not made a priority for surveillance. Following years of public debate over calls for a full public inquiry, an independent coroner's inquest led by Lady Justice Hallett concluded in May 2011 that the 52 victims were unlawfully killed, that their deaths could not have been prevented, and that MI5 was not obliged to have given greater prior attention to Khan. The inquest issued nine recommendations regarding intelligence and emergency-response procedures and did not recommend a further public inquiry.

The attacks were followed by a sharp temporary rise in reported hate crimes directed largely at British Muslims, alongside public condemnation of the bombings by Muslim religious organizations in the UK and abroad. A day after a related failed bombing attempt two weeks later, police shot and killed Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian man wrongly identified as a bombing suspect, at Stockwell tube station.