Alert after incidents on tube and bus

Police and emergency services are responding to incidents at three London underground stations and on a bus. There are unconfirmed reports of a nail bomb exploding at Warren Street tube station and there one person has been injured there. There were no reports of other casualties at the scene of the other incidents at Oval and Shepherd's Bush stations and on a No 26 bus at the junction of Hackney Road and Columbia Road in east London. Television footage showed that the bus, which appeared to be intact, had been evacuated. At this stage, Scotland Yard were not describing the incidents as "major", Reuters reported. The incidents come two weeks to the day after 56 people were killed when four suicide bombers attacked three tube stations and a bus in the capital. Today some witnesses said they heard gunshots at Warren Street and saw an assailant running from the scene but Scotland Yard sources said it was unclear if the noise was from gunfire or detonating caps. A passenger on a tube train about to arrive at Warren Street tube station said another passenger had told him there had been an exploding rucksack. He described seeing smoke and dozens of panicking passengers running through the train. "The train was not far short of Warren Street station when suddenly the doors between my carriage and the next one burst open and dozens of passengers started running through," retired special constable Ivan McCracken told Sky News. Police cordoned off most of Euston Road, near Warren Street, and officers with sniffer dogs combed the pavement and the surrounding area. Rows of fire engines lined up outside University College Hospital next to the station and there were unconfirmed reports that armed officers had entered the hospital.
British Transport police said all of the affected tube stations were being evacuated. Transport for London confirmed that four lines - the Hammersmith and City, Northern, Bakerloo and Victoria - had been suspended. A spokesman said: "There is a code amber which means that the trains are being taken to the next station and passengers evacuated to above ground. Police are at all three stations." Overland services were running as normal and had not been affected, a Network Rail spokesman said Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street. "I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning. Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking. We pulled into Warren Street and were evacuated. It was horrible," she told the Press Association. A London Ambulance spokesman said: "We are currently responding with other emergency services to incidents at Warren Street, Shepherd's Bush and Oval ... at this time there are no reports of casualties at any of the scenes." The spokesman said they were called to Oval at 12.38pm and sent three ambulance vehicles; they were called to Warren Street at 12.45pm and sent five vehicles. Downing Street said that given the uncertainty over events, the prime minister, Tony Blair, had cancelled a visit to a school in east London this afternoon. He had been due to meet security chiefs to discuss the July 7 attacks later today.
The Metropolitan police have warned of a risk of further attacks. The London mayor, Ken Livingstone, has cancelled a visit to the Family Assistance Centre set up to help victims of the July 7 blasts in light of the current tube incidents.