Terrorist attacks throughout Europe

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41055985

Dunno when we decide that attacks pass whatever smell test is required but Buckingham palace

Headcases are always waving knives about or setting themselves on fire or whatever outside Buckingham Palace, it's like a, er, Mecca for the criminally insane.

Eyyyyy

OK, so the guy at Buck House drove at a police car, brandished a 4ft sword and repeatedly shouted "Allahu Akbar", as ever though the line between terrorism and mental disorder is thin.

Arah haven't we all done it

Well, you know how things can get on top of you.

Policemen?

A few years back there were two very disturbed local people who were arrested for planning to kidnap the singer Joss Stone and decapitate her with a samurai sword. If it wasn't so genuinely disturbing, some of the details of how they got caught were quite darkly comical. This was only a few years into the Tory cuts on mental health services, as well.

is this a good thread for this? http://www.jpost.com/International/EU-envoy-Israel-can-learn-from-Europe-how-to-fight-terrorism-503168

London ?

Or possible industrial/gas accident

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/15/trains-london-euston-milton-keynes-cancelled-huge-fire-in-harrow

Sorry for bump, seems fairly clearly industrial

alternatively:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41278545

that is mental. I just keep thinking, what would I do if I saw someone with a lit bucket on the tube?

i tell you what i definitely wouldn't do is stop to take fucking pictures of it, as multiple train passengers apparently did

kind of appreciate that they did, though

p sad that some people got trampled on the way out. though it is london public transport i suppose.

If it's a bomb, it's the world's worst - based on the reports at the moment (noise, flame, heatwave), it sounds like a chemical reaction, some bloody painter reckoning he can carry these two things in the same tub with some cardboard between them or such.

Someone on TV at some point today will say "chemicals don't just explode!", which is as damning an indictment of the educational system as you can imagine.‬

somebody's done their Run, Trample, Crush, Hide, Tell training

Must admit I hadn't thought Parsons Green would be high up on the list of potential targets for an ISIS operation.

think the police have confirmed it's a terrorist act, as far as live news feeds are concerned.

If it's a bomb, it's the world's worst - based on the reports at the moment (noise, flame, heatwave), it sounds like a chemical reaction, some bloody painter reckoning he can carry these two things in the same tub with some cardboard between them or such.

ooh, is this why you're not allowed to take tins of paint on buses?

Must admit I hadn't thought Parsons Green would be high up on the list of potential targets for an ISIS operation

busy as hell at rush hour though

it still looks more like the doings of a hapless art student rather than a terrorist.

such a fine line

i guess we just call everyone terrorists now to even the score with the daily mail

Checklist:

* Did you feel terrified?
* Did somebody do a thing?

i guess there might be an inncocent explanation for it, but why would you carry a bucket inside a bag?

if I stopped to ponder the actions of everybody I saw on public transport

maybe if it had a hole in it xpost

or maybe they'd bought the bucket. like when you buy a bag and put it in your bag

Or they might need the bag for something else later.

Yes, maybe carrying one unwieldy bucket on the tube wasn't enough inconvenience for them and they were going to pick up another one

There's one photo that shows what appear to be fairy lights coming out of the bucket and Twitter has been quick to point out this report:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-40046773

Bit soon, Lidl. Bit soon. 😳 pic.twitter.com/xyfmgwasRs

— Flappy of Quack (@jesuiscanard) September 15, 2017

I lolled

The blast, on an eastbound District Line train from Wimbledon, is being treated as terrorism, police said.

The Metropolitan Police said it was too early to confirm the cause of the fire and the station, which is above ground, has been cordoned off.

maybe I'm stupid or naïve but why is it so important to decide whether it's a terrorist act or not before you even know what's caused the bang?

cos they want to catch the perp asap?

oh god

Another attack in London by a loser terrorist.These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

Calling incidents terrorism before they've actually determined what happened seems to be what they do now. There might be stuff they aren't telling us though. Oh fuck off and die, Trump.

Isn't Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade in contact with Sherlock Holmes anymore or what?

how do we know Trump's twitter account isn't run by a bot?

i'll stop playing faux naïve and just ponder whether there aren't systemic and political (small p) reasons that encourage this rush to judgement too

if your department's brief is counter-terrorism you kind of have a subliminal but vested interest in keeping the importance of your department in the public eye

have they apprehended anyone here?

Sky's 'reporter on the scene', Mark White, was in the pub the other night watching the Celtic v. PSG game, so he's used to horrific incidents.

May fucking loves those Cobra meetings, they give her a chance to project the pretense that her battered party and parliamentary authority still actually counts for shit.

if this is terrorism tho it's obviously the work of an elaborate and highly-trained network

I bet ISIS will be looking at the state of that explosive device and marveling at the UK Jihadis levels of expertise and finesse, so much!

it's reassuring in some small way i guess that there are still cack-handed terrorists out there

Central locking, all have it to stop naughty fair dodgers. and now terrorists

The story now is he didn't lock the doors and the explosion happened while he was still in the taxi.

yeah, if you've seen the cctv footage the explosion happens as soon as the taxi arrives at the hospital.

mans gonna need a new air freshener for his cab

I thought I heard on the radio this morning that the device didn't explode properly, something about the detonator going off but not the complete load of explosives.

I often overlook that in the big cities there are lots of white taxi drivers and of that ranting racist taxi driver stereotype. There are very few white ones where I live, perhaps even none at the moment. The most fascist taxi driver I ever encountered was a sikh with a brummie accent who had R4 on and was complaining that they never talk about Hitler's good policies. He was a real oddball. I bet if it had been an Asian taxi driver who was the hero of the hour, he'd have been handcuffed to the hospital bed!

Yes, I think it was only the detonator went off, hence the fact that the taxi driver is sitting at home just now with his feet up watching Escape To The Country.

I thought I heard on the radio this morning that the device didn't explode properly, something about the detonator going off but not the complete load of explosives.

here is that thin line between successfully causing terror, death, mayhem and just blowing your bollox off in the back of a taxi!

The story now is he didn't lock the doors and the explosion happened while he was still in the taxi.

― When Smeato Met Moaty (Tom D.), Monday, November 15, 2021 9:46 AM (thirty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Aha, OK. I was asking earlier because I wasn't understanding the described events.

Women's hospital? If this happened in the US, I'd figure that it was an antiabortion attack.

Not the intended target.

Though you're right that in the US it might have been!

It's more well known as a maternity hospital anyway, iirc

This story gets weirder. It seems like the hospital might have been the target after all. The bomber was a Christian convert who'd been sectioned before. Why did he get a taxi at all? He only lived a mile away from the hospital, he could have walked there.

A taxi just this once, as a treat

what could possibly go wrong

jesus wept

A Conservative councillor has apologised after a tweet was posted from his account which mocked the Liverpool terror attack.

The tweet, sent by Paul Nickerson, who is an Conservative councillor in East Riding in Yorkshire, included an image of the taxi on fire after the explosion that occurred outside Liverpool Women's Hospital on Sunday.

But an image of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had been superimposed and made to appear to be walking towards the flaming wreckage of the car.

some of those with advanced Corbyn derangement syndrome find this kind of meme extremely hilarious. I should add in the shopped pic Corbyn is holding a wreath, presumably for his dear friend Emad Al Swealmeen.

There's some weird stuff coming out about the perpetrator of this attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg. He seems to be an anti-Islam Saudi dissident who was once featured on the BBC talking about a website he'd set up to help people seeking asylum from Gulf states. This attack looks like it could be motivated by a grudge against the German state.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/21/germany-christmas-market-attack-magdeburg-saudi-doctor-arrested-car-crowd

Saudi psychiatrist working near Magdeurg, didn't like how Germany treated Saudi asylum seekers, apparently - but how this could lead to this kind of thing... I'll never understand (nor do I want to)