UK on ‘critical’ alert after London Tube explosion

Britain has raised its terrorism threat level to “critical” — meaning an attack may be imminent — after a fiery explosion on a London underground train left 29 people injured.

Prime Minister Theresa May said soldiers will be deployed across London to guard against another attack in the wake of an improvised bucket bomb explosion on a packed commuter train at Parsons Green tube station.

It comes as authorities launch a manhunt for the bomber, who has not yet been identified.

Ms May urged the public not to change their lives but to be alert to the threat.

“The public should go about their business in the normal way but be vigilant and co-operate with police,” Mrs May said.

The decision to hike the terror alert came after an earlier announcement that warnings would not change.

The UK was already on a “severe” terror alert, which means an attack is likely. The alert was last increased to “critical” the day after the Manchester bombing in May.

Troops were deployed to guard streets, landmarks and transport hubs across the UK after that announcement.

Soldiers will replace police officers “on guard duties at certain protected sites which are not accessible to the public”, Mrs May said.

“The public will see more armed police on the transport network and on our streets, providing extra protection,” she said.

“This is a proportionate and sensible step which will provide extra reassurance and protection while the investigation progresses.”

A massive manhunt continues in London as police searched for a suspected terrorist who on Friday planted a bomb on a peak hour train.

However, London Metropolitan Police have admitted they currently have no suspects and were forced to deny earlier reports that they had identified the culprit using CCTV.

“We have no suspect at the moment,” a police spokesman told The Sun.

Sky News earlier reported that British security services had identified a suspect involved in the bombing of the busy commuter train in west London.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the blast.

London Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said “excellent progress” had been made in what he said was a “complex investigation” into the attack.

But he declined to provide any details about possible suspects and warned against “uninformed speculation on social media and by journalists”.

Mr Rowley said police had deactivated the improvised explosive device left on the train and taken it away for further investigation. He said investigators were “only aware of one device”.

Hundreds of police are continuing to trawl through CCTV footage to try to identify the person who planted the homemade bomb.

The Met requested the assistance of the military to guard streets on the weekend to free up more police officers to work on the investigation. As part of the tighter security measures, police will stop and search members of the public using counter-terrorism powers.

Cars will also be subjected to road checks, Mr Rowley said.

Tens of witnesses have been interviewed by police so far and members of the public have provided 77 images and videos taken from the scene.

“Somebody has planted an improvised explosive device on the Tube - we have to be open-minded at this stage about him and about potential associates,” Mr Rowley said.

About 1000 extra police who usually guard public buildings and utilities including nuclear facilities will be replaced by soldiers as part of the extra security measures.

Police will conduct extra checks on crowds attending major events over the weekend including a soccer match between Chelsea and Arsenal on Sunday.

Police also swooped on a Tube station in West London after reports a man was brandishing a knife. Officers stopped a man who was carrying the large weapon just after 7pm this evening at Acton Town.

Acton Central Police, a Twitter account run by local officers, posted: ’We are sorry that trains had to be delayed but I think most people will realise this could not be ignored.’

There is no suggestion that the incident at Acton Town is linked to this morning’s bomb attack at Parsons Green.

It comes as a selection of streets have now been reopened to the public but many remain cordoned off as the investigation continues.

The National Health Service said it had treated 29 patients in relation to the explosion with 21 still in hospital.

All eight patients treated at St Thomas’ Hospital following the explosion have since been discharged, a spokesman for the hospital has confirmed.

The Friday morning commute in Britain’s capital descended into chaos after a “fireball flew down a carriage” at Parsons Green station, in London’s southwest.

Police are treating the incident as terror-related, as images emerge of the suspected improvised explosive device.

The blast, which occurred at 8.20am local time (5.20pm AEST) came from a plastic bucket inside a shopping bag, left by the tube carriage door.

Images on social media show several wires coming from the flaming container, which it appears failed to detonate in full.

Reports suggest the device had a timer attached to it.

Panicked commuters fled the train when the doors flung open at the southwest London station in a stampede that crushed people including children as they tried to escape.

The Sun quotes an onlooker saying it was like a “fireball flew down a carriage” with panicked commuters diving out an open door.

Passengers said they saw a “flash” and a loud “bang” before the train carriage filled with smoke and the doors flung open.

Irish man Rory Rigney, who was on the train, said he heard a “smash” and screaming before seeing flames.

“I saw the fireball coming towards me -- yellow or orange,” he said.

“My face still feels warm. I wasn’t hanging around to get a better look at it.

“It smelled like a fire extinguisher and there was this foam on the floor. It looked like foam from a fire extinguisher.”

Counter-terrorism authorities have taken over the investigation after conducting an initial sweep of the area. Whoever planted the improvised explosive device is still at large.

Hundreds of police were trawling through CCTV footage in an urgent investigation into what appears to be a botched attack.

Security experts suggested it may have exploded sooner than expected because the train, which was headed to central London, was above ground.

Tube passenger Emma Stevie wrote on Twitter that she was forced to “run for my life”, saying: “Huge stampede, lots injured. Not sure why. Fire/explosion mentioned.”

UK Prime Minister Theresa May publicly chastised US President Donald Trump after he

appeared to criticise the ability of British police to stop the attack, suggesting the culprits were “in the sights of Scotland Yard”.

“Another attack in London by a loser terrorist,” Mr Trump tweeted. “These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!”

Ms May called him out on his comments.

“I never think it is helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation,” she said.

Speculation not helpful, British PM May says after London attack

However, the US president argued that he had been briefed on the incident.

“Yes I have on numerous things happening, including North Korea,” Mr Trump said.

Downing Street confirmed that Mr Trump had called Ms May after his remarks.

“President Trump called the prime minister earlier today to offer his condolences over this morning’s cowardly attack in London,” a spokesman said.

Ms May convened an emergency meeting of the government’s Cobra emergencies committee at 1pm local time (10pm AEST) as authorities considered whether to lift the official terrorist threat from “severe” to “critical”.

“My thoughts are with those injured at Parsons Green and the emergency services who, once again, are responding swiftly and bravely to a suspected terrorist incident,” Ms May said in a statement.

London Ambulance Services said 22 people were taken to hospital with a variety of injuries -- none thought to be life-threatening -- caused by both the blast and the resulting crush of fleeing people.

A local Metro reporter, who was on scene at the time of the incident, claimed several people had sustained serious burns and that “their hair was coming off”.

Emma Steveton told BuzzFeed there were “three layers of people underneath me” in a stampede that occurred.

“There was a poor little boy smashed into the floor with his face bleeding. There was a woman shouting that she was pregnant.

“The most traumatic thing was the weight of these bodies piling onto me and just thinking, ’This is it, I’m going to die.’”

A local man, known as Peter, told a local radio station LBC he had suffered minor burns from the explosion.

“Everyone ran off the tube, it was panic stations,” Peter said. “I just turned to see and realised it was the one explosion and there wasn’t a continuation of the fire.”

According to Peter, one man who was closer to the fireball had his a puffer jacket melted off by the flames. There are reports that at least 20 people were injured.

Lucy Steadman, 24, from Brisbane, was caught in a throng of people rushing to escape at

Parsons Green.

The Australian was travelling into the city with her partner, Fabian, when the train stopped at Parsons Green.

“We were standing close to the doors of the tube and then I heard some horrible screaming and saw people sprinting down the platform toward the exit,” she said. “The station only has one staircase out so people were rushing for that,

“I panicked and ran for that too, thinking Fabian was just behind me but we got separated.”

Ms Steadman frantically searched for her partner, but the stampede of frantic commuters had pushed her further away from him.

“At that point, I didn’t know what had happened yet and I thought it might be someone with a gun or a knife, so I wasn’t sure if the threat was still there or not,” she said. “I just had to focus on staying upright because I could see people in front of me falling and getting trampled on.”

“When it became clear the immediate threat was gone, we started helping people who had fallen on the stairs,” Ms Steadman said.

Ms Steadman used one of the phones she picked up to call its owner’s mother to “let her know what had happened”.

After she found her boyfriend, who had also escaped serious injury, the pair left the station and have been trying to process what had happened to them.

“It all happened so fast and I think I’m still shaking,” she said.

Olaniyi Shokunbi, 24, said the horrific scenes at Parsons Green tube station was just like a scene from a movie.

“A woman came out and she just looked absolutely panicked, her legs were all ripped up and she looked like she was burnt,” Mr Shokunbi said.

“There was blood all over the place, her hair was all messed up and she was coughing and just shaking, it was crazy”.

He also saw a young boy emerge from the mayhem, desperate to locate his family.

“There was a little kid and I felt so sorry for him; he came out and he was looking for his younger brother with scratches all over his face. He was screaming and shouting,” Mr Shokunbi said.

“I’ve never seen such a thing in my life I don’t know what to do now it’s crazy.”

Mr Shokunbi said he was now terrified to catch public transport in London.

“I was just on the phone to a friend saying I don’t feel safe taking the train any longer; I don’t think you understand,” he said.

“If something like this can happen in Parsons Green of all places ... You would think Oxford Street or the other big places where everyone is there but not in Parsons Green on a Friday morning.”

He said he was struggling to comprehend what had just happened.

“When the train doors were locked and the doors didn’t open, I felt like I’d been watching a movie.”

Daniel Holden was a passenger on the train and described the “horror” of the scene on social media.

“Explosion (or) fire on train. People struggling to get out of (the) station,” he wrote.

“Whole area closed down -- police are pushing people away.”

Ambulance Crews Work at Scene of London Tube Blast. Credit -- Twitter/rutiglianoaa via Storyful

Another man who said he was on the train, named only Garth, said on Twitter that the explosion occurred on the rear carriage.

A “mass of people came rushing” after the blast, he said.

Train services throughout the area were halted with commuters reporting a “security incident”.

Another passenger, Richard Aylmer-Hall, told Sky News UK that the incident sparked a “crush of people”.

“Everyone on the tube just ran in panic,” he said.

“There was a bit of a stampede going down the stairs. I got up and looked around and there was a lady saying she’d seen a small bag going off.”

A man named Peter, who was injured in the blast, spoke to BBC News from a carpet shop nearby while awaiting treatment.

He said a “fire ball” went over his head and singed his hair, causing burns to the top of his head.

“It was a really hot intense fireball above my head. There was a lot of people a lot worse than me. I saw a gentleman in a puffer jacket and the whole back of that had been burned. He had burn marks across his face, which were a lot worse than mine.”

A Reuters witness saw a woman being carried off on a stretcher with her legs covered in a foil blanket. Meanwhile, a passenger named Lucas told BBC Radio he heard the explosion and saw people with “minor injuries”.

“Burns to the face, arms, legs, multiple casualties in that way,” he said. “People were helping each other.”

The bucket bomb was a crudely designed device similar to the one which wxploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013, it’s claimed.

Major General Chip Chapman told Sky News: “It’s no accident this was both in a confined place and a crowded place. It’s more like the Boston bomb. It’s almost like a pressure cooker device.”

Security experts today told The Sun Online the flaming bucket photographed in the train carriage may have malfunctioned on its way to a larger station.

It appeared to have been constructed out of flammable materials, a plastic bucket and fairy lights.

Security expert Will Geddes told The Sun: “My feeling is that it’s a premature detonation. I know both Parsons Green and District Line very well. It’s an ideal commuter time.

“It was a premature detonation because it doesn’t sit inside the type of profile that terrorists want for a detonation ... Notting Hill or Paddington Station -- then you’ve got a much more identifiable location for the world to pick up on.

“The device is really basic. I don’t see a considerable amount of scorched surfaces around the device itself.

“It looks a firework bucket -- (the explosion) actually went up and not outwards. I would say it’s an ill-conceived device. But there were very significant burns -- there was likely to be some kind of toxic element to it.”

The first thing Muna Mohamed, 32, did after hearing the news that her usual Parsons Green train had been bombed was call her family to thank them.

“My family are visiting me from Poland at the moment and my five-year-old nephew delayed me slightly this morning so I missed my normal train,” Ms Mohamed said.

“I usually get on that train and I usually sit in the first two carriages which is where the explosion happened”.

Ms Mohamed had been travelling from Wimbledon to Parsons Green, where she works, when she heard an announcement on her connecting train that there was a security incident on the District Line.

“I’m just completely shocked that I could have been on that train this morning,” she said.

“I’ve lived here for over 24 years and knowing that it could happen at any moment to anyone is just shocking,

“I don’t feel safe; this is my home town and I don’t feel safe”.