Terrorist bombs rock London's underground: busloads of wounded

LONDON, Thursday (Reuters) - A series of explosions rocked London's transport system at rush hour on Thursday morning, causing numerous casualties and leaving millions of passengers in shock, police said.

The causes of the incidents - which occurred one day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and as leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations met in Scotland - were unknown but police said many of the city's underground stations were affected.

"It is too early to state what has happened," a London police spokesman said. "I cannot comment on reports of bombs, but we have had multi-reports of explosions around London."

People were seen streaming out of one underground station covered with blood and soot. Passengers were evacuated from stations across the capital, many in shock and with their clothes ripped to shreds, witnesses said.

The entire system was shut down and major thoroughfares were blocked off by police and ambulance services.

An explosion also occurred on a bus at Tavistock Square in central London, a policeman told Reuters.

"There have been some casualties and this has been declared as a major incident," said a spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police.

Emergency services rushed to the Aldgate East underground station where police reported one incident at 8:59 a.m. local time (0759 GMT), the spokeswoman said.

"There were people streaming out of Algate station covered in blood," said Kate Heywood, 27, on her way to work.

"There are shards of glass there, it is chaos," she added.

A Reuters correspondent at Oxford Circus station, at the heart of the underground system, heard an announcement over the public-address system saying: "A power outage has occurred London-wide. All train services are suspended." A station official said: "All the power has gone down.

I don't know when it'll come back." Police sealed off large areas around other underground and mainline rail stations.

Firemen donned chemical protection suits before rushing into stations.

Half a dozen people with soot-blackened faces and dishevelled clothes sat on the floor at Russell Square underground station or stood in shock as police cordoned off the area and ambulances crews raced in, one witness said.

The Great Eastern Hotel, which was hosting a conference on the Israeli economy, was evacuated. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to attend the conference but had not arrived.