'People yelling and screaming, trying to get out': London subway explosion injures 22
An "improvised explosive device" has exploded in London's subway train during Friday morning's commute, injuring 22 people.
Police in the U.K. are investigating the "terrorist incident," and making "fast-time inquiries" into possible suspects, according to CBC News.
"I heard a large bang from the doors on the other side of the tube train. Then this fireball above my head came, singed all my hair. I've got burn marks on the top of my head and everyone just [ran] off the train. It was quite scary," Londoner Peter Crowley describes.
Unlike the 2005 London attack that happened underground, this blast happened when the train was at an above-ground station.
"People started rushing out, a stampede of humans as one witness described to me here — People yelling and screaming, trying to get out," the CBC's Thomas Daigle says at the scene of the explosion.
At <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParsonsGreen?src=hash">#ParsonsGreen</a> Tube fire, Sally Faulding saw "bedlam and pandemonium." People were "falling over each other," screaming, crying <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/London?src=hash">#London</a> <a href="https://t.co/N6Yp9hy3FA">pic.twitter.com/N6Yp9hy3FA</a>
—@thomasdaigle"One terror expert who I was speaking to here on the scene told me that this apparent IED going off at this particular tube station shows that this seems to not have gone to plan, that perhaps the person behind this didn't have support, didn't know what they were doing."
Security and counter-terrorism expert Will Geddes tells The Current's host Piya Chattopadhyay that it appears the attacker was acting alone. He also suggests this was not a suicide attack.
"This was an individual that introduced themselves onto the subway line, somewhere within the journey from its disembarkation point which was in Wimbledon to Parsons Green, which is within Fulham where the attack, or the incident, actually materialized."
Geddes questions if the perpetrator intended to detonate the explosive at the rear carriage of the train.
"That is quite unusual in terms of most instances where these kinds of attacks take place, not only in London but also elsewhere around the world, that they would be more centrally located within the train carriages," he explains.
"However it is my speculation that the actual detonation was not intended in Parsons Green as the train was due to eventually reach both Notting Hill and Paddington station."
Geddes says the device used in this attack was improvised, constructed by an individual but "authorities are being somewhat guarded for understandable reasons as to specifying the exact component parts."
"But I think what will be telling will be if there are certain components that we have seen elsewhere by particular groups, especially Islamic State, who seem to be the driving force behind many of the attacks in the last couple of years."
Follow this story on CBC.ca for updates
Listen to the full segment near the top of this post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Pacinthe Mattar.