Attacks 'close to simultaneous', says police chief

The situation in London is coming “under control” after bombers caused terror with four more explosions across the British capital, police said today.

Sir Ian Blair stressed that the blasts appeared to be the result of “broadly conventional” weapons at this stage with no evidence of a chemical attack.

He told reporters: “The situation is now coming fully under control. We have all four scenes of the incidents confirmed and confined.

“We have no evidence at the present time, nothing to indicate any kind of attack which involves chemicals or anything else.”

Comparing today’s incidents to the July 7 attacks, Sir Ian said: “These are smaller devices, some of them have not gone off properly. We may have recovered forensic material. It may be important to our investigation.”

The attacks were “pretty close to simultaneous”, Sir Ian said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair - who was meeting Australian Prime Minister John Howard - said he believed people would not be intimidated by the terrorists.

“I think that everyone is canny enough to know what these people are trying to do, whoever is responsible for this latest incident, and that is to intimidate people and to scare them and to frighten them to stop them going about their normal business,” he said.

“It is important that we respond by keeping to our normal lives and doing what we want to do. I think that is the right response and people showed it again in London this morning and I think they will show it again.

“It doesn’t change us. It is not going to change what we do. To react in any other way is to engage in the game they want us to engage in.”

He said it was too early to speculate on who was responsible for the attacks but added: “I think that will become apparent, I hope, reasonably quickly.”

Mr Blair again denied the London attacks were a result of the Iraq war.