Suspected suicide bomber shot dead
(Filed: 22/07/2005)
Police have shot dead a man, believed to be a suicide bomber, after a chase at Stockwell Tube station.
There were unconfirmed reports that police believe the man was one of the attackers involved in yesterday's failed bomb attacks.
Scotland Yard said: "We can confirm that just after 10am armed officers entered Stockwell Tube station.
"A man was challenged by officers and subsequently shot. London Ambulance Service attended the scene. He was pronounced dead at the scene."
Tube passengers have been evacuated from Stockwell station in south London.
Witnesses described seeing undercover police chase the suspect.
Mark Whitby said: "I'm totally distraught".
"It was no more than five yards away from where I was sitting as I saw it with my own eyes."
London bombings
He added: "As the man got on the train I looked at his face. He looked from left to right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit, like a cornered fox. He looked absolutely petrified.
"He sort of tripped but they were hotly pursuing him and couldn't have been more than two or three feet behind him at this time. He half-tripped, was half-pushed to the floor.
"The policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand, he held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him."
A large area around Stockwell Tube Station, an interchange for the Northern and Victoria lines was cordoned off and traffic approaching the area ground to a halt.
London is on high alert after four devices failed to detonate properly on three Tube trains and a bus in the capital yesterday.
Police search Warren Street for evidence of chemical agents
Two weeks ago 56 people died in four bomb blasts on the London transport system.
A statement posted today on an Islamic website in the name of an al-Qa'eda-linked group claimed responsibility for the latest blasts - blaming British involvement in Iraq.
The group, Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, also claimed responsibility for the July 7 bombings.
The statement's authenticity could not be immediately verified.
A manhunt has been under way for the four would-be bombers who fled from the incidents yesterday at Shepherd's Bush, Oval and Warren Street as well as the number 26 bus in Hackney.
One person was reported injured in the attacks.
Police were cautiously optimistic that the terrorists had opened a door to their secrets.
It is thought that they were of a similar design to the July 7 bombs and could accelerate the process of discovering who built the devices and planned the attacks.
