Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers - Revisiting the complete timeline of events in the 2005 terror strike

Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers, the Netflix docuseries, revisits the horrific terrorist attack on London that took place almost a decade ago on 7th July 2005. The docuseries tells us what happened on 7th July, shows unseen footage of the day, and brings up public testimonies.

Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers was released on Netflix on 1st July and revisits the events of the day extensively. The docuseries has the following logline:

"Insider accounts and never-seen-before footage tell the story of the 7/7 bombings on London's transport network in 2005 — and its explosive aftermath."

To fully understand the incident, here's a complete timeline of the day explored by Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers.

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Timeline of Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers

As seen on Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers, on the morning of 7th July, 2005, a series of coordinated suicide bombings took place in London, UK, that abruptly halted the city’s transport system and spread mass terror throughout the nation. In just under an hour, four bombs exploded on London’s public transport network, killing 52 innocent people and injuring more than 700. Here's a detailed timeline of the horrific event:

The incident covered in Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers began at the crack of dawn on July 7, 2005. Four young men from different parts of the UK coordinated a series of suicide bombings across London’s public transport system.

The Planning behind the incidents covered in Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers:

1) Three men, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, and Hasib Hussain, aged thirty, twenty-two, and eighteen respectively, left a rented apartment on Alexandra Grove in Leeds at 4 am, which was later revealed to be a bomb-making site used to assemble the devices used in the attacks. The attackers had also prepared for the attack at another address on Chapeltown Road. In a rented blue Nissan Micra, they travelled towards Luton.

2) The trio briefly stopped at Woodall Services station along the M1 motorway at 4:53 am. CCTV footage captured Tanweer refueling the car and purchasing snacks. The other two remained in the car.

3) Nineteen-year-old Germaine Lindsay arrived at Luton train station in a maroon Fiat Brava at 5:05 am. During this time, Lindsay was in contact with Khan via mobile phone.

4) Khan, Tanweer, and Hussain met Lindsay at the Luton station car park at 6:51 am. Witnesses observed the four men opening the trunks of their cars and taking out large rucksacks.

5) CCTV footage revealed that at 7:20, the four attackers walked toward the train station with their explosives-packed rucksacks on their backs. The entry records show that they passed through ticket barriers at approximately 07:22 using return tickets valid for three days.

6) The attackers boarded the delayed 07:23 train at 7:24 am from Bedford to Brighton, departing from platform one.

7) The attackers arrived at King's Cross Thameslink Station at 08:23 am, nearly 25 minutes behind schedule. The four men got off the train and made their way through the station before heading down into the London Underground.

8) Surveillance cameras inside King’s Cross Underground station captured the attackers splitting up in different directions at 8:26 am, each heading toward a separate Tube line.

9) At 8:38 am, Tanweer boarded an eastbound Circle Line train, which would take him toward Liverpool Street.

10) At 8:42 am, Khan boarded a westbound Circle Line train heading toward Paddington.

11) At 8:48 am, Lindsay boarded a westbound Piccadilly Line train headed towards Russell Square.

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Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers: The first three bombs explode:

1) At 8:49 am, three bombs detonated almost at the same time, and the first wave of explosions erupted underground. Tanweer detonated his bomb between Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations, killing seven people. Khan detonated his bomb between Edgware Road and Paddington, killing six people. Lindsay caused the most devastating blast between King’s Cross and Russell Square, killing 26 passengers.

2) Smoke quickly filled the tunnels, and panic ensued as emergency services tried to reach the affected locations. The coordinated attacks created mass chaos and loss, killing 52 innocent people and injuring over 700.

3) Hussain was the only one who had not boarded a train and was seen exiting the King's Cross station at 8:54 am.

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Reaction:

1) As Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers covers, People initially believed the explosions were due to power failures or mechanical faults, and the full extent of the disaster was unclear initially.

2) From 8:54 am to 9:34 am, explosion reports were made across emergency lines. Police, fire, and ambulance services scrambled to respond across multiple locations

3) By 8:54 am, the British Transport Police had received calls about loud bangs at multiple stations. At Edgware Road, response efforts were briefly misdirected to the wrong address at Praed Street before crews arrived on the scene.

4) As seen in Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers, Emergency services began declaring major incidents at Edgware Road, King’s Cross, and Russell Square between 9:29 am and 9:38 am. Resources were soon stretched thin, and paramedics on the ground reported shortages, while confusion made the situation worse. At King’s Cross and Russell Square, responders had difficulty locating the precise scene of the explosion in the tunnel, but ambulance and fire crews eventually reached passengers suffering from smoke inhalation and blast injuries within minutes.

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Fourth bomb explosion:

1) At 9:47 am, a fourth bomb, detonated by Hussain, exploded aboard the number 30 double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, not far from King’s Cross, killing thirteen people.

2) Nearby police officers heard the explosion and quickly took action. Within minutes, fire crews and paramedics arrived. One ambulance, originally en route to Russell Square, encountered the destruction and immediately began triage.

3) A senior paramedic arrived at 10:20 am to coordinate the medical response.

4) At 10:42 am, a controlled detonation was performed on a suspicious microwave found on the bus.

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Public statements and shutdown

1) Before 11 am, Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced the suspension of London’s public transport network and urged the public to avoid travel.

2) At 10:55 am, authorities declared central London a restricted zone. As Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers covers, roads were closed, services within travel zone one were suspended, and the congestion charge was lifted as part of an urgent response to the crisis.

3) At 11:15 am, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair acknowledged that at least six explosions had been reported, though they were not absolutely sure of the full picture.

4) At 11:25 am, police confirmed that attacks and deaths had occurred. Josep Borrell, then President of the European Parliament, described the events as a coordinated terrorist attack.

5) At 12:05 PM, Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking from the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, addressed the nation. He stated that the attacks were timed to coincide with the summit and were acts of terrorism. He vowed to return to London as soon as possible and pledged a strong and united response.

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Aftermath and Legacy:

1) As seen in Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers, over the following days, investigations revealed that four young British men had carried out the suicide bombings in a planned, coordinated attack. As reported by BBC News, BBC Monitoring had later found a website which claimed that a secret organisation linked to al-Qaeda had taken credit for the attacks. One line of the statement said,

"The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London,"

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Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers covers the brutal attack that took place on that fateful day, which still causes immense pain and grief to its survivors.

Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers is streaming on Netflix.

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