Coordinated bombings struck London's transit system

On the morning of 7 July 2005, four suicide bombers attacked London’s transport network during the rush hour, in the deadliest terrorist incident on British soil in decades.

Just before 9am, three bombers detonated rucksack devices on London Underground trains: one between Liverpool Street and Aldgate, one between Edgware Road and Paddington, and the worst between King’s Cross St Pancras and Russell Square, which alone killed 26 people. About an hour later, a fourth bomber blew up a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, killing 13 more.

In all, 52 people — of 18 nationalities — were killed and hundreds injured, in addition to the four attackers. The bombs were homemade, built from concentrated hydrogen peroxide and packed into backpacks.

The attacks, soon known simply as 7/7, were Britain’s first Islamist suicide bombings and forced a sweeping rethink of UK counter-terrorism, which had focused largely on threats from abroad.