Jonathan Savage on 20-year anniversary of 7/7 London terror attacks

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is John Mountain filling in for JT.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Well.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
We all remember the attacks of nine to eleven here
in America, but twenty years ago today there was an
attack along the same lines. It happened on seven seven.
Joining us now to talk about the remembrance is Jonathan
Savage live from London. Jonathan, Welcome to the show. Hello,
good morning, Good morning Jonathan. So this situation, with the
situation that happened twenty years ago was a pretty severe situation.

(00:27):
Can you tell me more about exactly what happened because
a lot of us aren't. We don't really remember the
thing here in America.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
It was the morning rush jar in London. London is
a sixty the Runstone public transport. Everybody takes the tube.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
The hang on it sounds like we're having trouble with
your phone. We're going to get you right back. Your
phone was a little doing that thing where sometimes it
sped up sounding. But yeah, I remember this now. They
call it the tube and they said that there was
this attack in the tube and it affected a ton
of people. Welcome back to the show. Are you there, hello, Yes,

(01:00):
any please go ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah. So London is a city where the tube, the
London underground network and the buses or the heartbeat of
the city. They get people around and everyone uses these
public transport networks. And it was on that morning of
seven seven, two thousand and five, during the morning rush hour,
that four suicide bombers conducted their attacks. Three underground trains

(01:22):
and a London bus, the iconic red London double debtter
bus were targeted. Fifty two people were killed and more
than seven hundred and seventy were injured. It was a
day of horror in London, and a day that has
resonated for the last two decades and will for decades
to come.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
And this, of course, was I believe they targeted. Was
there a specific I know is Islamic terrorism, But was
there a specific group that they that they blamed? Was
it al Qaeda? Was there somebody like that.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
They were linked to al Qaeda? But one of the
things which made this event so shocking and made British
people feel it so deeply, is that all four of
the b were British, three of them born and raised
in England, a fourth born in Jamaica but brought up
in England, and two of them were only teenagers at
the time of the attack, the oldest of the four

(02:11):
and the ring leader was thirty years old. This was
British Islamist terrorism. They were linked to al Qaida. The
ringleader had attended al Qaida training camps and they traveled
from Leeds in the north of England down to London
that morning when they conducted their attacks.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
And with the situation, how is it remembered in London?
Do they do remembrances and that sort of thing to
sort of mark the deaths.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yes, there are regular commemorative events, this being the twentieth anniversary,
as you imagine, they are larger events than usual. At
the seven seven memorial location in Hyde Park. The Prime
Minister Kirstarmer, the Mayor of London, have laid wreaths this morning.
As I speak, there is a memorial service taking place
in Saint Paul's Cathedral in central London, and then later

(03:03):
the Prince of Wales, Prince William, will attend a further
memorial at that seven seven commemorative location in Hyde Park.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Jonathan Savage live from London, Thank you so much for
joining us this morning on Alabama's Morning News.