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Police kill man on London Tube
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SPECIAL REPORTYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSLONDON, England (CNN) -- Police have shot a man dead at a London subway station a day after bombers apparently failed to repeat the carnage of the July 7 blasts. Four suspects in Thursday's attempted bombings of three London train stations and a double-decker bus have been identified through closed circuit television footage, a police source with knowledge of the investigation said. It was unclear if the man shot Friday at Stockwell Underground station in south London was one of the four suspects but London's police chief said the shooting of the suspect was "directly linked" to continuing anti-terrorist operation in the city. Ian Blair, commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, appealed to the public for information about the whereabouts and identity of the four suspects. CCTV images of the four suspects were later shown. One commuter Teri Godly described how she had stood next to the man the British media described as a suspected suicide bomber before police charged in and shot him several times. "A tall Asian guy, shaved head, slight beard, with a rucksack got in front of me," she told Sky News television. "Shortly after that, as I was about to get onto the train, eight or nine undercover police with walkie talkies and handguns started screaming at everyone to 'get out, get out.'" (More eyewitness) The incident just after 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) Friday triggered new fears about the security of the city's transit system just one day after four attempted bombings targeted three Underground trains and a bus. A Scotland Yard spokesperson said: "We can confirm that just after 10 a.m. 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." The Stockwell station is one stop down and about a mile away from the Oval station, the scene of one of four attempted bombings on Thursday. The London Underground said there were line suspensions on the Victoria and Northern lines, but later said the Victoria Line had reopened except for Stockwell station. Trains were passing through Stockwell but not stopping. The Northern Line was still suspended between Kennington and Morden stations. The road passing by the Stockwell station was also closed. In addition, authorities said one other station -- Highbury and Islington toward the north end of the Victoria Line -- was being evacuated after the incident at Stockwell, but they did not have further details. The shooting is a rarity in London, where police generally are not armed except for special response units. Police later said they were searching an address at Harrow Road, to the west of the city. In addition, an east London mosque on Whitechapel Road said it had received a bomb threat and called police. The mosque was evacuated while police checked the building. It was cleared and people were allowed back inside. The shooting Friday came as police were hunting the bombers who struck London's transport network the day before. The would-be terrorists attempted to set off another string of bombs on London Underground trains and a double-decker bus Thursday, leaving behind "significant" forensic evidence when the devices failed to detonate, the city's police commissioner said. "Our lucky day," said a banner headline in the Daily Mirror newspaper. "Four bombs, three trains, one bus, zero deaths." The Sun newspaper ran the banner headline: "Four suicide bombers on loose." The aftermath resulted in some Friday morning headaches for commuters as London transport officials kept the Warren Street and the Oval stations closed. The incidents came two weeks after a series of blasts killed 56 people, including four men identified as the bombers, on another three trains and a bus. But police Commissioner Blair said it was "too early to say" whether there was a connection between the events. "Clearly, the intention must have been to kill. You don't do this with any other intention," Blair said. But he added: "The intention of the terrorists has not been fulfilled." Police hotly defended their safety measures amid questions over any evidence suggesting a second round of attacks was likely. Michael Bowron, assistant police commissioner for the City of London Police, told CNN: "We're making this place as safe as we can in the circumstances, and I think it's wholly unfair to talk about intelligence failures. "Clearly, there's a new face to terrorism, and we're working very closely with our colleagues to find out what that nature is, and how to get into it, and how to prevent it in the future." Intelligence expert Crispin Black told CNN: "Whatever happened yesterday, I suspect wasn't what the terrorists wanted to happen. It would appear that they are under some sort of pressure. It might be to do with their bombs -- people are asking 'where are the bombing masterminds?' "And there is another plus point to this: We have got four people on the run, and the police appear to have good forensic evidence to build up a picture from. "My guess is that all four of these people will not be able to get away. They have no escape plan if they were suicide bombers, and so the advantage is now playing to the security and intelligence agencies." Witnesses reported small explosions aboard Underground trains north, south and west of the city center and aboard a bus in east London early Thursday afternoon. One person was reported wounded. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the incidents were designed "to scare people and frighten them." "I think we just have got to react calmly and continue with our business as much as possible as normal," he added. Witnesses' accounts led to suggestions that detonators had gone off but failed to trigger bombs. The police commissioner would say only that some devices "remain unexploded," and he said police evidence technicians were going over the scenes. (More on Thursday's blasts) "We do believe that this may represent -- may represent -- a significant breakthrough, in the sense that there is obviously forensic material at these scenes which may be very helpful to us," Blair said. "So I feel very positive about some of these developments." But he said the investigation was still in an early stage and cautioned against the "enormous amount of speculation" concerning the incidents. Police urged anyone with photos or video taken around the time of the incidents to e-mail them to investigators. Police took two men into custody after the blasts, including one man arrested near the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street. He was released without charge early Friday, while the first man, who was arrested two stops away from the Warren Street station, was released a few hours earlier.
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