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July 21 2005 London Bombings Fast Facts

Posted at 12:03 PM, Jul 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-14 14:03:07-04

Here’s a look at the unsuccessful terrorist bombings on July 21, 2005, in London. No one was killed or injured in the attacks.

Facts:
The attacks took place two weeks after a similar one killed 52 people and injured more than 700.

The bombs were homemade and believed to contain a white, peroxide-based explosive, a description consistent with the highly volatile triacetone triperoxide, or TATP.

Timeline:
July 21, 2005 – Four bombing incidents in London take place, three on subway trains and one on a bus. Small blasts occur at Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd’s Bush stations. Scotland Yard also responds to an “incident” on a bus at Hackney and Columbia Road in east London. There are no casualties.

July 23, 2005 – Police recover a fifth undetonated device in a west London park.

July 27, 2005 – Yassin Hassan Omar, a 24-year-old Somali man with British residency, is arrested in Birmingham.

July 29, 2005 – Police capture two suspects, Muktar Said Ibrahim and Ramzi Mohammed, at the Dalgarno Gardens apartments in London’s North Kensington neighborhood. The suspected fourth bomber, an Ethiopian named Hamdi Isaac, also known as Hussain Osman, is captured in Italy after Scotland Yard and Italian authorities monitor his cell phone as he travels from London to Rome.

August 7, 2005 – British police announce that a total of five men have now been charged: Ibrahim, 27, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder; Ramzi Mohammed, 23, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder; Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32, conspiracy to murder; Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali, 30, and Wahbi Mohammed, 22, both charged with assisting in evading arrest.

April 28, 2006 – Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed, Omar, Asiedu and Osman appear via video link at the Central Criminal Court, all pleading “not guilty” to the charges of murder, conspiracy, possession of explosives and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life and property. The indictment of a sixth suspect, Adel Yahya, is postponed until June. He is accused of conspiracy to cause explosions.

July 9, 2007 – A jury convicts four of the defendants on the charges of conspiracy to commit murder: Ibrahim, Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Osman.

July 10, 2007 – The jury fails to reach a verdict on the remaining two defendants, Asiedu and Yahya.

November 5, 2007 – Yahya receives six years in jail after pleading guilty to collecting information likely to be used in a terrorist act.

November 20, 2007 – Asiedu is given a 33-year sentence after he pleads guilty to conspiracy to cause explosions.

February 2008 – After a four-month trial, five men are convicted for assisting the would-be bombers and hiding information: Wahbi Mohammed (17 years), Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali (12 years), Ismail Abdurahman (10 years), Abdul Waxid Sherif (10 years) and Muhedin Ali (seven years).

2011 – Abdurahman and Siraj Yassin Abdullah are freed early.

April 30, 2012 – Internal al Qaeda documents surface providing details that British subject and al Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf planned the 2005 London bombings carried out by groups led by Mohammed Siddique Khan on July 7 and Ibrahim on July 21.

December 16, 2014 – Abdurahman, Ibrahim, Omar and Ramzi Mohammed lose an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights. They claim that their access to legal counsel was delayed when they were being questioned by police.

June 1, 2015 – The Grand Chamberof the European Court of Human Rights agrees to look at Abdurahman, Ibrahim, Omar and Ramzi Mohammed’s case concerning delayed access to legal counsel.

September 13, 2016 – The Grand Chamber rules there was no violation of rights for Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed and Omar, but there was a violation in regards to access to legal counsel for Abdurahman.