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The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for London underground tube blast on Friday morning. The militant group had also claimed their role in attacks in London and Manchester this year. It said, “The bombing on a metro in London was carried out by a detachment of the Islamic State” in a statement published by its Amaq propaganda agency.
As of now, the officials have no evidence to verify the claim.
Speaking to reporters, Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer, Mark Rowley, said, “It is very routine in these sort of circumstances for IS to claim responsibility, whether or not they have had any previous engagement with the individuals involved.”
On Friday, a blast on a London underground train left several commuters injured.
As per reports, the bomb failed to explode fully, causing lesser damage than intended. The incident is being considered as Britain’s fifth major terrorism incident of 2017. The blast took place at 8:20 am when the train was about to depart Parsons Green station in West London, causing massive panic as passengers started fleeing in panic. While some of the passengers suffered burns, others were injured in the ensuing stampede. According to health officials cited by Reuters, no one was seriously injured in the attack.
“We are chasing down suspects. Somebody has planted this improvised explosive device on the Tube: we have to be open-minded at this stage about him and about potential associates,” Rowley said.
Britain Prime Minister Theresa May described the incident as a “cowardly attack” and raised the national level threat to its highest level, “critical”.