Police examine rucksack on evacuated bus

A police source said there was still a rucksack on the top deck of a bus which was being examined by specialist officers in London today.

Police moved a cordon back a further 200 yards from the bus.

A spokesman for bus operators Stagecoach said the driver of the bus had heard a bang on the top deck and had gone upstairs to find the windows blown out.

He then evacuated the bus but it was not believed any of the passengers were hurt, the spokesman said.

Witnesses to the explosion on a double decker bus in East London said there had been a bang followed by the smell of smoke.

But they said no one appeared to have been injured following the explosion on the number 26 service in Hackney Road.

Police sealed off a major junction between Hackney Road and Shoreditch High Street. The bus was parked 50 yards up Hackney Road opposite the junction with Columbia Road.