The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of suicide attacks carried out by homegrown terrorists on London's public transport network during the morning rush hour.

The bombings, three on the London Underground and one on a bus, killed 52 people and prompted a massive response from the emergency services, and in the immediate aftermath the almost-complete shut down of the city's transport system. Over the following hours and days there were several security alerts throughout the United Kingdom, and in some foreign cities. London largely returned to normality in the following days, though with several further security alerts and a reduced service on the Underground.

Security alerts

Security responses in the UK

London Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (COBRA) was activated within minutes of the first reports of explosions, and remained open round the clock for over a week. The London Underground was closed in the hours following the attacks, and did not re-open until the following day, with a reduced service. The Circle line, and the Piccadilly line between Hyde Park Corner and Holloway Road, remained closed. Several other lines remained disrupted in the areas affected. Security alerts were also causing disruption. The entire London Buses network was suspended on 7 July, with all buses sent back to depot for security checks. Eventually, services outside Zone 1 in central London returned to operations, and a reduced Zone 1 service operated in the evening of 7 July. Services returned to normal on 8 July, except through affected areas. All major Network Rail stations in London closed on the morning of 7 July, re-opening in late afternoon. King's Cross remained closed until 8 July. Most National Rail services terminated outside London, with Great North Eastern Railway trains stopping at Peterborough and Virgin Trains West Coast stopping at Watford Junction. The London Ambulance Service reported that they would "only be sending ambulances to patients across the capital with life-threatening illnesses or injuries". The Metropolitan Police Service urged people not to enter London, and to limit their usage of public transport. Schools in the capital did not close on 7 July, as police thought it safer for children to remain in classes. On 8 July, most schools in central London were closed due to transport difficulties. In London, security responses saw major buildings such as the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace sealed off. Most landmarks such as the London Eye and Westminster Abbey were closed. All theatre productions in the West End were cancelled, as were several concerts. The Bank of England commenced financial continuity plans, to keep the financial system operational. East Croydon station was closed due to a suspect package, but was later re-opened. There were reports of Victoria station being cordoned off by police amid reports of a "suspicious package" on a bus near the station.

Nationwide Security alerts were reported in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Sheffield, Southampton, Portsmouth, Swindon, Brighton and Poole. In Edinburgh, two controlled explosions were carried out on a Lothian Buses double-decker on Princes Street in the centre of Edinburgh at around 17:30; neither of the objects destroyed contained explosives. In Cardiff, the Central railway and Central bus stations were closed after a security alert. In Birmingham, 20,000 people were evacuated from the city centre on 9 July while police carried out four controlled explosions. There were bomb scares in Sheffield City Centre on 5 July. In Southampton, the main coach station and the surrounding area was cordoned off after a suspect package. In Portsmouth the Portsmouth Harbour railway station and the nearby Hard bus interchange were closed for a few hours following a hoax bomb threat. Ian Tebbut was subsequently jailed for 6 months. In Swindon, a suspicious package was spotted at the town's station. The area was evacuated and bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion, but the parcel was found to contain two gifts and a bag of washing. In Brighton there was a controlled explosion of a suspicious briefcase at approximately 12:55 in a telephone box outside Brighton station. The briefcase was later found to be harmless, and the station was re-opened. Poole railway station was also closed in response to the discovery of a suspicious package. The package was later detonated by police in a controlled explosion. At the G8 summit in Gleneagles, armed police patrolled the surrounding villages, and over 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers were re-deployed back to London.

Security responses abroad In other European countries, security was also tightened at major transport networks. Prime Minister of France Dominique de Villepin announced that France had increased its level of terror alert to red, the second-highest level, in response to the events in London.Wikinews:France raises security level to red in response to London bombings Meanwhile, Berlin transport officials indicated that security alert levels for the public transport system of the German capital had been raised to yellow, the second of four levels. Spanish Interior Minister José Antonio Alonso raised the level of antiterrorist prevention and protection alert to level three, the highest level. This implied the use of all security forces in the country patrolling public transports and others mass confluence sites. For example, military forces patrolled in commuter trains in Madrid. Transportation security was also tightened in Canada, particularly in the Toronto Subway and the Montreal Metro. In Singapore, where a major presence of British, American and Australian interests are located, security measures were enforced immediately on the public transport system. Armed police officers from the Special Operations Command began patrols at MRT stations, plans for CCTVs to be installed in all trains and buses were mooted, and the public was also updated on the progress of the planned MRT Security Unit of the Singapore Police Force. Security was also stepped up at the then on-going 117th IOC Session. In Singapore, Liu Tze Yuen was behind Hougang bomb hoax on 7 July 2005 and 12 August 2005. Lin Zhenghang was arrested for posting bomb hoax at Toa Payoh Bus Interchange which is similar to the 2005 London bombings on 11 February 2007. In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security raised the terror alert level to orange, specifically for mass transit in large cities. In Seattle, to name just one example of a major American city in which security on public transit was increased after the London bombings, Seattle police and King County sheriffs patrolled at each stop in the downtown Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. In Denmark, at least two controlled explosions were carried out in the week after the incident. Both incidents turned out to be left luggage. One of these controlled explosions took place on 11 July at Amalienborg Palace, the residence of the Royal Family. Generally, police patrol activity in public transportation areas was increased significantly after the incident. On 11 July it became known that commanders at US airbases in East Anglia had issued orders immediately after the bombings forbidding servicemen from travelling within the M25 motorway until further notice, and strongly discouraged family members not subject to their orders from doing so. The orders were revoked by higher authority on 12 July once they became generally known.

Media response The first indication of the attacks came at 9:15 a.m., when Sky News, during its Sunrise breakfast show, flashed a report of an explosion at Liverpool Street Station in the City of London. The main UK TV networks (BBC One and ITV) dropped programming and carried news solidly within 30 minutes of the first reports. Initially, the BBC's response was slow. At 9:20 a.m., a graphic appeared on BBC News 24 reporting an explosion in the City of London, only for it to be removed and go unmentioned by the channel's presenters for a further five minutes. Around this time, BBC One made a short news report before Homes Under the Hammer, only to interrupt the programme several minutes later when the gravity of the incident became clearer. The major television channels' coverage continued throughout the day with simulcasts of the channels' respective rolling news services BBC News 24 and the ITV News Channel. The length of this media coverage in the UK was unprecedented: for example it was the single longest broadcast in ITN's history. There was total blanket coverage on all British rolling news channels for several days.

Radio stations toned down their programming with extended news and information throughout the day. BBC Radio 4 took rolling news programming from BBC Radio 5 Live during the morning. GCap Media's London music radio stations – Capital Radio, Capital Gold, Choice FM and Xfm – simulcast rolling news coverage from the time the first reports came in. This coverage, aimed at Londoners struggling to get home or to work in the aftermath of the attacks, was much acclaimed within the industry and won the coveted Sony Gold Award.

BBC Radio 4 pulled its scheduled Classic Serial without explanation; it was to have been John Buchan's Greenmantle, about the revolt of Muslims against British interests abroad. ITV cancelled a broadcast of the film The X-Files at midnight on 9 July, which featured an explosion at a U.S government building caused by a bomb. Another film, Stakeout, was shown instead. The following evening, the terrorism-themed action film The Siege, originally scheduled for a 10:15 p.m. broadcast on ITV1, was replaced by Gone in 60 Seconds. Similarly, in Denmark Blown Away featuring Tommy Lee Jones as a bomber was replaced on national TV station Danmarks Radio by Rain Man. Five postponed the showing of the CSI fifth-season finale by a week because it featured a suicide bomber. It was replaced with a repeat from an earlier season. Sky One replaced the advertised episode of their documentary series Conspiracies on 10 July. The planned episode was due to focus on the Lockerbie bombing. It was replaced with an episode that focused on the Siege of Waco instead. Meanwhile, the network removed references to terrorism when broadcasting an episode of WWE SmackDown!. The episode was taped two days before the attacks. (However, this episode, in which The Undertaker was the subject of a mock attack by two Muslim wrestlers, was shown unedited in the United States, to the chagrin of many viewers and critics.)World Wrestling Insanity, by James Guttman. New York: ECW Press, 2006

BBC Two's topical news quiz Mock the Week was cancelled – the episode had been the last one of the show's first series and was replaced instead by a clip show showing edited highlights and outtakes from previous episodes in the show's run. Channel 4's comic panel game 8 out of 10 Cats was edited to remove a section of the show in which the panellists discussed which news stories the public had been discussing that week, and that portion remained absent from most of the rest of the series.