LONDON
London marked the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bomb attacks on Tuesday, remembering the 52 victims killed in the worst terror attack launched in Britain.
Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson led the commemorations, laying floral tributes at the 7/7 memorial in Hyde Park timed to coincide with the first of four explosions that targeted London’s transport system, setting off blasts on three underground tube trains and a bus.
More than 700 people were injured in the attacks.
“Ten years on, this is one of those days where everyone remembers exactly where they were when they heard the news,” Cameron said at the ceremony.
“It’s a day when we recall the incredible resolve and resolution of Londoners and the United Kingdom, a day when we remember the threat we still face but above all it’s a day when we think of the grace and the dignity of the victims’ families for all they have been through and we honor the memory of those victims and all those that were lost 10 years ago today,” he said.
Cameron also wrote on his Twitter account that "the threat continues to be as real as it is deadly – but we will never be cowed by terrorism."
Johnson said the attackers “failed in their aim” and that the “fundamentals of London and what makes this city great” had not been changed.
Survivors, victims’ relatives, members of the emergency services and politicians attended the service at Hyde Park followed by another at St Paul’s Cathedral. Attendees included Prince Andrew, Cameron and Johnson among others.
Small groups of survivors also gathered and laid flowers at the four bombing sites - Edgware Road, King’s Cross and Aldgate stations and in Tavistock Square, where a double-decker bus was targeted.
A minute’s silence was held across the country at 11.30 a.m. local time (1030GMT) and the capital’s public transport network halted to observe the silence.
Commuters cut short their daily bus and tube journeys to get off a stop early and walk the rest of the way under a #walktogether social media campaign to remember the 2005 atrocities.
Tennis matches at the Wimbledon tournament were delayed until after the minute’s silence.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the day was to acknowledge the “strength, solidarity and resilience of London and the people who live here”.
British mosques hosted “peace iftars” ahead of the anniversary and more events were scheduled for Tuesday evening including one at Hyde Park where Prince William, Duke of Cambridge is expected to attend.
“The best way to defy the terrorist is to increase our bonds of unity, not to single out any one group of people for blame or opprobrium, especially if they had nothing to do with such carnage and have actively spoken out against it,” The Guardian newspaper reported Shuja Shafi, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, as saying.
The anniversary came less than a fortnight after 30 Britons were among 38 people slain in a terror attack on a beach resort in Tunisia. Cameron said the attack in Sousse was a "brutal reminder" of the threat.
British Home Secretary Theresa May had announced last November that 40 terror plots had been foiled by British security services since the 7/7 bombings in 2005.
Around 4 million passengers use the London metro everyday.
