this is bbc news. the headlines at 2pm. an explosion on a packed tube train in south—west london. 22 people are injured. the device had a timer. police are treating it as a terrorist attack. there are many urgent enquires ongoing with hundreds of detectives involved, looking at cctv, and speaking to witnesses. this is being supported by mi5 and they are bringing their intelligence expertise to bear on the case. eyewitnesses say the blast set off a fireball in the train. there was a stampede as passengers fled in panic. i was sitting in the back carriage, and suddenly i heard a big bang, and i turned left and when i saw the fireball surged towards my side. good afternoon and

welcome to bbc news. an explosion on an underground train in south—west london this morning is being treated as a terrorist attack. the train was packed with rush hour commuters when the blast went off. it sent a fireball through the carriage. 22 passengers were injured, none of them seriously. the device appears to have been in a white container with a timer. the mayor of london says a manhunt for the attacker is now underway. the device detonated at 820 this morning at parsons green station on the district line in south west london. my colleague matthew price is there. thank you very much indeed. the

section of the london tube network on which this explosion took place is actually overground, not underground like much of the network. it is a couple of hundred metres behind me, down this road where, at the moment, police and forensic officers are going through the scene of the explosion to try and piece together what happened and what sort of device this was. we have already had some sort of analysis, through from the police on that, they called it an improvised explosive device, essentially a home—made bomb. eyewitnesses say there were wires coming out of a white builder's bucket in a supermarket plastic shopping bag. we are also hearing from bbc sources that they believe there was a time of some sort attached to the device. as you say, it was exploded in the

peak of the rush—hour when many, many people were on the train, but perhaps because it happened at a train station above ground people could then get off the train quickly. eyewitnesses spoke of panic on the platform in the moments after the explosion, but we do know that 22 people who were taken to hospital have what is referred to as blast injuries and we do not believe that anybody is in a serious or critical condition. it is worth reiterating that nobody was killed in this attack. we will take a report in amongst all the analysis we will getting in the next few moments. 8:20am this morning and the commuter ca ptu res 8:20am this morning and the commuter captures this on camera through the window of eightjune train. captures this on camera through the window of eight june train. that bag is on fire. it is still a light, the remains of a makeshift bomb left amongst the passengers. let's move away and get right down the platform. seconds before, a flash of

flame caused panic and serious burns. i heard a large bang from the doors on the other side of the tube train, then this fireball above my head has come and singed all of my hair. i have burn marks on the top of my head and everybodyjust ran off the train, and it was quite scary. suddenly i heard a big bang, andl scary. suddenly i heard a big bang, and i turned left and i saw the fireball surge towards and i turned left and i saw the fire ball surge towards my and i turned left and i saw the fireball surge towards my side. then i heard a lady screaming and crying and people were very panicked. i heard a lady screaming and crying and people were very panickedm happened as the train was coming into parsons green station. people rushed to get out. i walked into the station and there was blood on the floor and people running down the stairs, screaming get out, people running and crying and the whole situation —— station was evacuated. people were coming out of the

station coming —— covered in blood and burns. the bbc news presenter sophie raworth was nearby. i've seen a woman who was just stretchered off here and clearly her legs wrapped up and she has been burned. she has burns to herface. she and she has been burned. she has burns to her face. she was conscious and was taking pain relief and oxygen. but clearly people have sustained a very nasty burns. she seemed to have burns all over her body, from top to toe. her legs were wrapped up in some kind of protective plastic film and she definitely had burns on herface protective plastic film and she definitely had burns on her face as well, so very clearly people have been injured. the london ambulance service began its emergency response. but early reports suggest that of 18 people taken to hospital, none have life—threatening injuries. as police cordoned off large

sections of the area there was disruption for local people. they can to read terry ‘s investigation is now under way. —— a counterterrorism investigation. we now assessed that this was the debtor nation of an improvised explosive device —— detonation. as you have seen there are reports of 18 injuries and i understand most of them to be flash burns. the scene currently remains cordoned off and the investigation continues. currently remains cordoned off and the investigation continuesm currently remains cordoned off and the investigation continues. it is a terrorist attack. the police services are now involved in a manhunt. the person or people responsible for this attack will be caught and brought to justice. the train was barely damaged. there was no blast. the device inside the carriage may have detonated prematurely. the bbc has been told it had a timer. from this crime scene, the investigation is spreading. the area has been secured

and we have seen sniffer dogs checking, but nothing —— that nothing else has been left that might cause harm. the station sees clearly a majorforensic investigation but intelligence officers and counterterrorism detectives will be asking if they know already who may have planted the device, who might be involved, and they want to know if any further attacks are planned. it has become a weary routine this year. local people we have spoken to and some of those on the train at the time i shaken, but there is a sense that this could have been far worse. a bomb in the corner of a tube train a p pa re ntly bomb in the corner of a tube train apparently not spotted by anyone. police have again warned that there isa police have again warned that there is a need for calm, but also vigilance. as tom was saying there is an extensive police operation, and as the mair of london has told

us, there is a manhunt. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford is at new scotland yard. daniel, presumably the police focus is on cctv images, trying to work out who put this on the train. yes, matthew. in a funny sort of way they have almost had a dry run for this. there was an attempt to blow up a tube train that failed and was detected at north greenwich station last year, and that was also a timer device. what police did on that occasion was to work back through cctv images but also oyster cards and contactless cards. i'm sorry, we seem to have lost daniel there, unfortunately. but he was explaining where the police are in their investigation at this moment, talking about other incidents which have helped them

develop and hone their detective skills for moments like this. and there is an extensive cctv network, closed—circuit security cameras across the capital. and especially on the underground network. so there will be a lot of material for them to go through. just on a bit of the geography here, that tube line, which essentially runs right behind my back, behind the trees behind me, it comes from the west from wimbledon and heads into central london in that direction. this train had come from wimbledon so there we re had come from wimbledon so there were only a few stops before it got here. presumably therefore the cctv images from wimbledon and a couple of other stations before parsons green will be crucial. there have been lots of stories, notjust from the eyewitnesses, as inevitably and a lwa ys the eyewitnesses, as inevitably and always seems to happen like this, of people in local areas like this helping those who have been caught

up helping those who have been caught up in all of the pandemonium. one of those who offered her support was 18—year—old rachel green, who works in a cafe in parsons green. she described the moment when she realised the seriousness of what happened. it was not like an immediate sound that made me stop and drop everything, but we heard a small bang, but didn't think anything of it. could it just bang, but didn't think anything of it. could itjust be the train braking? but within minutes we had tens of people coming out of the station, looking distressed, in tea rs, station, looking distressed, in tears, and we noticed that there we re tears, and we noticed that there were people without shoes on or without their personal belongings, so we ran out of the copy shop and went to go and console them and ask if they were ok, get them water, tea, whatever they needed. whatever we sure “— tea, whatever they needed. whatever we sure —— saw was just shock among people today. i only saw very minor physical injuries and most of them we re physical injuries and most of them were coming from the rush from exiting the station, because as far

as i'm aware, there was a huge commotion and a great deal of panic and we had a stampede coming out of the station to get out of the station once everybody knew there was an immediate danger. so most people were really upset from the uncertainty and the chaos and shock of that event, really. you said members of your family were close by as well. yes, i have two younger siblings and they both take the train like me to school every day and trying to get in contact with them for the first ten minutes as i realised this was the time they usually commute, that was nerve—racking. when i was able to make contact it was a great relief, but this is a quiet neighbourhood in london road. this is a family oriented area and the something to happen like this in our community was really shocking. how have you been feeling as it through the day

—— about it? been feeling as it through the day -- about it? we could knock comprehends what happened that first and when we saw people coming out of the station we were asking what has happened, but as more and more police and fire and emergency services arrived we began to realise the gravity of the situation, and i think a great deal of shock and sadness, but also a sense that london has some of the most resilient people in the world, and i think if we can get past this as we have been able to push past many incidents like this, that is what i hoped for. that is just incidents like this, that is what i hoped for. that isjust one of those who was here on the scene as that explosion took place and some of the help she gave to those who were caught up on the train. the police have just actually moved a bit of the police cordoned just in the last couple of moments also. it only gets

a say few yards closer, but this is now the road that runs directly down to the site that explosion. we can get the reaction now from richard walton, former head of counter—terrorism at scotland yard, who joins us from west london. good afternoon to you. good afternoon, yes. i know these are still early moments in this, but you will have seen some of the reporting of the nature of this device. i wonder what you make of it. it's very dangerous to speculate at this stage and my former colleagues will be keeping an open mind as to the nature of the attack. clearly the bomb has not done what it was intended to do, kill and maim many people, so there's a sense of relief that the injuries are minor or not severe and life—threatening. the bomb itself obviously looks many of

the devices we have seen over the yea rs, the devices we have seen over the years, and also many of the devices that are on the islamic state internet sites which inspire individuals to carry out attacks using home—made bombs through readily available chemicals. bbc sources are telling us that they are learning that this one may have had a timer on it. again, a timer, if it has indeed got a timer, that is pretty much the norm in terms of home—made devices. and it is what is recommended in the literature from the islamic extremist websites. that said, we should be careful about speculation that this is an islamic related attack. it might not be. you will recall back in may, earlier this year, a 20—year—old man, david smith was given 15 years imprisonment for leaving a similar device such as this on a train at

north greenwich on thejubilee line in october. again, the motive was not that clear. it looks like islamic related terrorism. on the face of it, it looks as much, but it could be a lone individual or it could be a lone individual or it could be a lone individual or it could be somebody as part of a cell. it could be the start of a campaign ora it could be the start of a campaign or a one—off incident. we don't know at this stage and we should let the enquiry and investigation take its course. we heard earlier from the assista nt course. we heard earlier from the assistant commissioner for the metropolitan police who were saying that they have dozens of officers going through cctv images also asked the public to upload images to the website that they thought might be useful. bearing in mind where the train had come from, just a few stops down the line, presumably, actually, by this stage the police could already, bearing in mind the size of this bucket, it would be difficult to hide it in a rucksack

or coat, they may well already have images of the person they believe put it on the train. indeed. it won't be long before they have images of one kind or another. whether those images help them in the investigation is a moot point. we have to wait and see. but there is extensive coverage of cctv cameras across the network and has been for some time. it was obviously instrumental in identifying the attackers during the 7/7 attacks in 2005 some 15 years ago. cctv evidence was critical in identifying those individuals, and it happened rabble daily —— rapidly, in a matter of days. richard walton, thank you for your analysis. let's speak to kevin hurley, former head of the counter terrorism and public order department for the city of london police. he's in our central london studio. good afternoon. i wonder what you make of the sort of understanding and picture we are building up of the nature of this device. and picture we are building up of the nature of this devicelj and picture we are building up of

the nature of this device. i would go along very much with a lot of what richard walton has just said, but i disagree with his use of the phrase islamic. we need to be very careful in using that kind of term. it would be more appropriate to describe that as extremism. i urge course on with people using the word islamic, because that tends to two drive is lahm afobe, and we need to be much more careful —— —— islam are phobic reactions. yes, it looks like it has failed to detonate correctly, just like the bombs did in 21/7, just like the bombs did in 21/7, just weeks after the 7/7 bombs. who knows what the constituents of it are, but probably quite likely a mixture of trice atoned tri— peroxide, but that would be conjecture, but it does tend to be the bomb of choice for these people

at the present time and the police operation will be moving out as quickly as they can, to gather what evidence they can. one of the good things because it didn't go off properly, they have a treasure trove of forensic evidence to be found just with that particular bomb in terms of all kinds of tiny clues and hints that might be available on that. the next thing they will look to try and achieve is establish who was on the train, because ultimately might come down ascertaining which phones triggered which cctv mast as the train went by. so they will want to eliminate lots of phones on the train in order to find out perhaps if the bomber had a phone, and if it comes down to that they do not get him or her either fingerprints comes down to that they do not get him or her eitherfingerprints or dna on the partially exploded device, or, indeed, from cctv. dna on the partially exploded device, or, indeed, from cctvi wonder, just moving away from the

nature of the device and investigation, if you might think a little bit about what actually happened on this station. we know from eyewitnesses that the moment the explosion went off, the train doors opened and at that point there was, understandably for a couple of moments, some panic, people describe the rush to get out of the train station. is there anything we can do that we should do in incidents like this to try smooth —— and smooth the escape this. it's relatively difficult in eight station that is relatively small. it would have been intended just go off but dashed off on the train wherever it was, but it's very difficult to deal with that kind of situation with the standard phrase of keep calm and carry on, because people want to survive and panic will set in and they will try and run away from that. the bottom line is, the evidence of the manchester plane disaster is that those people who

fought and pushed and climbed over seats are the ones who survived, so it's difficult to say to people who are very scared, keep calm and stop pushing. tragically, this is what happens. one of the great losses of life in the second world war was when a v1 bomb landed on a cheap train underground shelter —— tube train underground shelter —— tube train underground shelter —— tube train underground shelter, and hundreds of people were killed in the stampede to escape. it's difficult to control human behaviour when they are in panic. kevin, thank you very much for your time. we can now go back to daniel sandford, and we lost the line to him earlier. daniel, i wonder if there is any latest information coming out from the police there? i think we will getan the police there? i think we will get an update from the metropolitan police later this afternoon. it's highly likely we will get another

detailed statement of what it is they are prepared to say at this stage. picking up on what richard walton, the guest before last, was saying. this is a dress —— there was a dress rehearsal for saying. this is a dress —— there was a dress rehearsalfor this, which was the north greenwich attack, which was a time bomb left on a tube device —— tube train. and the police married at the cctv images with the oyster ca rd married at the cctv images with the oyster card contactless readings you get from the ticket barriers as you go in and out, and it quickly got them to which card was associate —— associated with planting the bomb that allowed them that afternoon to the person they believe carried out the person they believe carried out the attempted attack who was then subsequently convicted this year. you can see the kind of work that these hundreds of detectives that now on this investigation will be doing. they will be going through

cctv images from the london transport system and others, marrying it up with oyster cards, co nta ctless marrying it up with oyster cards, contactless cards and, as kevin hurley was saying, with mobile and trying to use that to track down where the person is who planted that timea bomb where the person is who planted that time a bomb on the train this morning which appears to have failed to d eto nate morning which appears to have failed to detonate properly. one other things we haven't talked much about is the nature of the device itself. it isa is the nature of the device itself. it is a large bucket full of what is presumably some sort of home—made explosive, but in there would appear to be christmas tree lights, fairy lights. that is something we have seenin lights. that is something we have seen in thesejihadist lights. that is something we have seen in these jihadist manuals that turn up on the dark web and in various encrypted chat rooms, that you use christmas tree lights as a detonator. that is one of the methodologies. the idea of a fairly basic timer, christmas tree lights and some sort of home—made explosive does lead towards the idea of it

being a jihadist style bomb or somebody who is copying the techniques used by them. daniel, a fascinating detail. i wonder if we could broaden this out and briefly reflect on the fact that this is the fifth terrorist attack in the uk in 2017, but the first in which, so far, nobody has died. yes, it is the fifth attack effectively, and there we re fifth attack effectively, and there were four successful attacks, the westminster bridge, london bridge, manchester and finsbury park attacks. this reasonably u nsuccessful attacks. this reasonably unsuccessful attack, and we should remember there are people with a nasty flash burns, so people have been injured and many people com pletely been injured and many people completely terrified, including schoolchildren caught up in this attack in the london rush—hour, and as well as those five attacks there have been several foiled attacks some of which were foiled pretty

much at the last moment. there have been several incidences where they believe they have caught people almost in the final acts of preparing for an attack so this has been a very very tough year for counterterrorism officers across the uk, particularly for counterterrorism officers in london who seem to have been facing something every month. but it really has not just been something every month. but it really has notjust been london, and even manchester, there have been big counterterrorism operations in the west midlands, for example. so it has been a very, very difficult year for this counterterrorism policing network that was set up in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings in 2005 which has, frankly, proved pretty successful until this year and it seems that this year they have eventually been slightly overwhelmed by the volume of work and, some people have started to slip through the net. this was a lwa ys slip through the net. this was always going to happen. reflecting

on today, if it's not too early to reflect, i think we have probably been very lucky. this was a large amount of home—made explosive, if thatis amount of home—made explosive, if that is what it was, sitting in what was a very busy commuter train and when it's half gone off, it was aboveground not underground and if it had gone off in a busy can be —— commuter train underground we could be talking about many, many people's injury -- be talking about many, many people's injury —— seriously injured and dead. daniel, thank you very much. at this moment and over the last hour the government has been holding an emergency meeting, the cobra committee. our political correspondent leila nathoo is outside the cabinet office where the government's emergency committee, cobra has been meeting has been taking place. the political actions so far has been understandable and predictable so far, but they will be considering an awful lot of what daniel has been saying, those sort of things.

absolutely, matthew, and that is what the cobra committee is for, a chance for the prime minister to sit down with senior cabinet ministers and senior civil servants, with the police and security services and the emergency services. the mayor of london was here earlier as well. it appears the meeting is now over. we have seen some of the main figures leave the building behind me, but the prime minister did come back to westminster from her constituency to chair the meeting and she will have been fully briefed on the details of the explosion, the progress of the investigation and any leads the police and intelligence services are pursuing, and indeed any consequences or precautions, preparations that might have to go in place across the city. theresa may has said she has been updated while she was travelling back to london, and the emergency services

are with the injured, and she has praised the emergency services response, as has jeremy praised the emergency services response, as hasjeremy corbyn. the cobra emergency committee has already met a number of times this year after all of those terror attacks that you have mentioned. there is no indication yet of the threat level being raised and we have not had an update on what was precisely discussed in the meeting, but we hope to hear more detail about that later this afternoon. thank you very much indeed. and the prime minister will be speaking after that and we will bring you her words as soon as we get them. i'm joined now by the leader of hammersmith and fulham council, councillor stephen cowan. ijust wonder when you i just wonder when you first heard about this, what happened from the council perspective? the incident happened at 8:20 a:m., and shortly after that i was called to be told about what had happened, be briefed on itand

about what had happened, be briefed on it and that it had gone onto the gold command structure which means a central emergency effort was put in place. i was down here in half an hour. we did not know whether this was the first one or other attacks might happen and we were prepared to evacuate people or deal with all the consequences of what might have been involved. the security services com pletely involved. the security services completely locked this down and i've think they have been deeply impressive, as you can see. while we are still undergoing a manhunt and investigating, they are confident that they have contained the issue and people should be available —— able to go about their business. what intelligence are you getting in terms of what happened on that train, and any guide you can give us as to how that manhunt, as you described, is going? there is a very sophisticated approach. we have cctv information, people who are trained to analyse different data from the

internet and all sorts of the different sources, so now there will bea different sources, so now there will be a considerable and coordinated approach to understanding who might have done this, whether they were known to security services, and that will evolve over the coming days. i'm absolutely confident they will make the right type of progress on this issue. the second thing, and in reality, it's always a priority, is what have we got to do to keep citizens save? that is why you saw this part of full on a complete lockdown with a co—ordinated approach. there are police helicopters looking for other evidence and looking for what is happening on the ground. i think people should be reassured by that given what has happened. people should be reassured by that given what has happenedm people should be reassured by that given what has happened. it is a residential area, as we can see through the television pictures. has there been any need to evacuate people from their houses? there were a small number of people who were taken from their houses in the immediate vicinity but there has been no large—scale evacuation.

that's not to say we didn't have processes in mind if the situation had been more dangerous than we thought, but it wasn't. i think this has been a terrible thing, but not as bad as it could have been and now we have do line thank you very much forjoining us, from hammersmith and fulham council. busy times for you, good luck. i might step out of the way of the camera and see if there is any chance if we can get a zoomed in short because you might be able to make out, several hundred metres, you might be able to make out the underground sign of parsons green tube station where this explosion took place. as we've been saying all day now, a lot of police around here are looking at that scene. but also looking at the cctv footage from this part of the line and further back down from where the train came, towards wimbledon, to try and

ascertain who put this home—made bomb onto the train and where they might be now. we'll leave it there for now but much more from you and news of that attack coming up this afternoon along with the rest of the day's news. we'll pause and catch up with the weather with lucy martin. we'll continue to see cooldown showery weather through the next few days as high pressure pushes into the weekend we'll see fewer showers. a mixture of sunny spells and chose this afternoon across england and wales with potential to be thundery. with a northerly wind direction, temperatures down a degree or to one yesterday. iman chav as will become confined to the coast. still a fair few showers across eastern coasts of scotla nd few showers across eastern coasts of scotland and england and one or two showers across wales and the south—west. a fresh start the day tomorrow, plenty of dry and bright weather. a scattering of showers again. as we move through the days, we could see a shower pretty much

anywhere. into the afternoon, dry weather pushing into scotland. a fairly cool day with highs of 16 celsius. chilly night overnight into sunday, then lots of dry weather around, a chance to see showers in the afternoon, especially in the far south—east. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. with me, rebecca jones. our top story this afternoon. an explosion and fire on a tube train in south west london during this morning's rush hour is being treated as a terrorist incident. the improvised explosive device had a timer. eyewitnesses say the blast set off a fireball in the train. there was a stampede as passengers fled parsons green station. 22 people are being treated in hospital. the prime minister has held an emergency cobra meeting, as the hunt for the person who placed the device continues, with hundreds of detectives

and m15 investigating. in other news, china has condemned north korea's latest missile test, but says it does not hold the key to reining in pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. the comment was made after the us secretary of state, rex tillerson, demanded that china and russia take direct action against north korea. in the latest test, a north korean intermediate range missile flew over japan before crashing into the pacific. the british foreign secretary boris johnson urged china to do more. kim jong—un is going kimjong—un is going to continue with these absolutely reckless and deranged provocations against what he sees as his enemies. until somebody puts the kind of pressure on him that's going to make him sit up on him that's going to make him sit up and listen. the only people who can do that are the chinese. 1a unions, which represent more than a million nhs workers, have written to the chancellor to request a 3.9 per cent pay increase.

they say their members' wages have fallen significantly since 2010, once inflation is taken into account. the move comes after the government abandoned the annual one per cent pay cap for police and prison officers. sarah gorton from unison set out why the unions were taking this step. everyday people are leaving the nhs for better paid work elsewhere. so we're taking the unprecedented step of seizing this initiative and setting out what we would like the chancellor to set aside in the budget so all nhs staff can get a pay rise. the nasa space craft, cassini, has been orbiting saturn — two billion miles from earth — and sending back images for the last 2a years: scientists say it's transformed our understanding of the planet. but today, cassini was deliberately crashed into saturn's atmosphere at a speed of 76, 000 miles an hour, ripping it to pieces. police in sri lanka say they've

recovered the body of a british journalist who is believed to have been attacked by a crocodile. paul mcclean — who was 2a and worked for the financial times — is understood to have been dragged into a lagoon while he was washing his hands. police say they are treating an explosion on an underground train in south—west london as a terrorist incident. 22 people are being treated in hospital but none of their injuries are believed to be life—threatening. the blast happened on a district line train at parsons green station packed with commuters, at about 08:20 — at the height of the rush hour. police say an improvised explosive device was detonated. pictures from inside the tube show a white container inside a supermarket bag, on fire, with wires or lights protruding from it.

the blast doesn't appear to have caused extensive damage to the carriage itself ; but eye witnesses have described seeing a "wall of flame". earlier the assistant commissioner mark rowley of the metropolitan police gave this update on the investigation. i will want to talk briefly about the incident, the police response and what we need from the public at this time. firstly in relation to the incident, as you've reported, at 8:20am at parsons green tube station there was an explosion on a tube train. police have attended. we now assess that this was a debtor nation ofan assess that this was a debtor nation of an improvised explosion device. as you have seen in the reports, 18 injuries, i understand most of those to be flash burns. the scene currently remains cordoned off and the investigation continues. in terms of the police response, as

you'd expect, well practised command structures have come into shape, and operation led and coordinated by the metropolitan police working with our collea g u es metropolitan police working with our colleagues from british transport police and others. the investigation is being led by the metropolitan police counterterrorism command, pa rt police counterterrorism command, part of the national counterterrorism policing network. there are many urgent inquiries on going out with hundreds of detectives involved looking at cctv, forensic work and speaking to witnesses. this investigation is supported by our colleagues from mi5, supported by our colleagues from m15, bringing their intelligent expertise to bear on the case. in terms of police response, i'd emphasise londoners particularly can expect to see enhanced police presence, particularly across transport systems today. finally, in respect of what i would ask from the public, firstly, any member of the public, firstly, any member of the public with any information about this incident should call us as a

matter of urgency. any urgent indignation, call 999. —— any urgent information. they can also call the anti—terrorism hotline. anybody with images, often people take photos at the scene of such incidents, anybody with images from the incident can contact us. we have a website where they can download images to and i'll ask broadcasters to one that address over their ticker tape for the next hour. i would ask the public to remain vigilant across london and be alert in assisting us but not to be alarmed. that was the assistant commissioner of the metropolitan police, mark rowley. our security correspondent, frank gardner, is here. the device, what more can you tell us? this device appears to have been

a failed device and i know it's no consolation to those poor people who actually got singed and badly burned by it. but it essentially combusted rather than exploded. so the bulk of the explosive in it didn't appear, did not appear to have gone off. it could have been anything between 5-10 could have been anything between 5—10 kg of some kind of home—made explosive, probably using hydrogen peroxide. it was flash burns rather than an explosive detonation which would have blasted apart, sorry to be graphic, had this worked as intended, it would have killed everybody around it and maimed for life everybody in that courage. there are similarities to the 21—7 failed bombings where it was a poorly mixed form of explosive that didn't quite go off as planned. there are enough forensic clues left in this that the bomb squad, the eod

and forensic people, this will have been sent to counter the frantic explosive laboratory. government infrastructure will be taking this apart, looking at everything they've got from this. they will possibly have been on the scene very early on and everything sent down to them. it'll be in the laboratory now. already the government will know exactly what the explosive was, probably something similar to district line, peroxide —based explosive badly mixed. it might be responsible? we're in the land of speculation, there are no claims yet by anyjihadists speculation, there are no claims yet by any jihadists outfit. speculation, there are no claims yet by anyjihadists outfit. of course thatis by anyjihadists outfit. of course that is where natural suspicions have fallen because they have been so many threats by isis. and ices supporters, those who carried out most of the terrorist attacks or failed plots. there've been 19 in the last four years. these are terrorist plots that have been stopped in the last four years, six of which in the last few months.

people are keeping an open mind on that. inevitably, the intelligence agencies, particularly m15 the security service, will look at all their current targets to see if there are unusual patterns of activity, and usual phone calls etc. it could be somebody who simply not on the radar, somebody they weren't aware of, on the periphery of an early investigation. they didn't think was a threat and has turned out to be. from the outset parsons green doesn't seem to be an obvious target. you don't need an obvious target. you don't need an obvious target to get headlines and kill and maim people. there are over 60 million people in this country. one of the possibilities investigators will be looking at, was this intended to go off at a busy hub? earls court or a big cross—section somewhere like that. and it worked

as appears to have been intended, it would have caused all the sensational headlines, even bigger than we've got, it would have been far worse, i think. than we've got, it would have been farworse, ithink. in no than we've got, it would have been far worse, i think. in no way, the location isn't that important, the point is it went off on a crowded tube train on a busy line at commuter hour in a similar way to the 2004 madrid bombings. those were much bigger and worse and the death toll was nearly 200. this is a narrow escape. i wonder if you could go into more detail about what will be going on behind—the—scenes. go into more detail about what will be going on behind-the-scenes. there are several lines of inquiry here. first and foremost, the hunt for the perpetrator. as daniel sandford mentioned earlier, hundreds of police detectives who been reassigned onto this case as a matter of urgency will be trawling through cctv footage. london is one

of the most surveilled cities in the world, a police officer once said its possible to cross one side of greater london to the other and be photographed 200 times. i would not be surprised if they didn't already have a photograph description of the perpetrator, a white bucket, this is not a usb stick. how can you reassure londoners about their safety on public transport? i've chaired a meeting of cobra following this cowardly terrorist attack. clearly this was a device intended to cause significant harm and 22 people have been injured and are being treated in hospital. our thoughts are with all those who have been affected by this attack. the emergency services were on the scene immediately and once again i'd like to thank them for their professionalism and for their bravery. and the police and security services are obviously doing all the work to discover the full circumstances of this cowardly attack and to identify those

responsible. i would urge any members of the public who have any information or footage about what happened this morning to pass it to the police urgently. the threat level remains at sophia, that means a terrorist attack is highly likely. it will be kept under review as the investigation progresses. —— tim ferri. the public should remain vigilant. people travelling in london will see an increased armed police presence on the transport network and security will be increased and the police will of course do what is necessary to protect the public. the threat of terrorism that we face is severe but together, by working together, we will defeat them. he said following the london bridge attack a few months ago that enough is enough and we've been too tolerant of extremism. is it still your view? how do you intend to tackle this threat? yes, we do need to ensure we

are dealing with notjust terrorist threat, but with the extremism and the hate that can incite that terrorism, that's why we're looking very carefully at the powers that our police and security services haveis our police and security services have is to make sure they have the powers they need. it's also why we're working with the internet companies, the home secretary has visited silicon valley, spoken with the internet companies, and next week i'll be chairing a session, co—hosting it with president macron from france. to talk about what more we can be doing to ensure we deal with the terrorist propaganda, with the extremist propaganda, with the hatred put out across the internet. donald trump has intervened to say this was carried out by people who scotla nd this was carried out by people who scotland yard had in its sights, does he know something we don't?|j never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on an ongoing investigation. as i've said, the

police and security services are working to discover the full circumstances of this cowardly attack and to identify those responsible. sadiq khan was your meeting and said london needs more police, more police stations, more resources . police, more police stations, more resources. will they get it? we're very clear we've protected police budgets and counterterrorism policing and we've ensured it is possible for the police to increase the numberof possible for the police to increase the number of armed police. possible for the police to increase the number ofarmed police. i'm pleased to say once again the services, police and others responded immediately to this attack, were on the scene immediately, and we thank them for their professionalism and bravery. the prime minister theresa may responding to that attack at parsons green tube station earlier this morning. frank gardner was watching that statement with me. interesting, frank, the national threat level hasn't been increased because there hasn't been increased because there has been this cobra security meeting this morning when presumably it would have been discussed. i'm quite

surprised at that actually, because the threat level is not decided by the threat level is not decided by the government, but by an independent national body, the joint terrorism authority, a fusion cell of 100 specialists that sits inside mi5 of 100 specialists that sits inside m15 headquarters on the embankment and 20 47 analyse all the threats to uk security. their advice to the government is mandatory. we are at sophia, which means a terrorist attack is thought to be highly likely —— severe. if they think another attack is imminent, it has to go to critical. it happened after the manchester arena bobbing because at the time they thought there was a bomb make out there making more devices. the bomb maker died in the blast, in fact. this particular attack, though it appears to have failed to have carried out its original huge damage, the perpetrator is still at large. i'm surprised in a way... moving it to

critical is a big step, it doesn't happen often, it isn't a decision taken happen often, it isn't a decision ta ken lightly happen often, it isn't a decision taken lightly and it involves calling people off leave, mounting extra ca rd, calling people off leave, mounting extra card, it's an intensive, exhaustive process that can only last a few days. they will have been relu cta nt to last a few days. they will have been reluctant to do it, but in my mind there would have beenjustification. we must leave it there, but frank, a lwa ys we must leave it there, but frank, always good to talk to you, frank gardner, security correspondent. we can now speak to gillian wixley — who was on the train on her way to work when the explosion happened. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news, i imagine it must have been very frightening if nothing else, tell us what happened to you. sure. soi tell us what happened to you. sure. so i was on the back of the train, probably about one door or two down from where the blast happened. i heard a bit of a distraction and it sounded like something was going on, i thought maybe a fight had broken out, and quite quickly i could tell

a level of panic in the train that made me think maybe someone had a knife. it all happened really quickly. then suddenly the doors we re quickly. then suddenly the doors were opened and somebody was screaming, get out, get out. there was a big panic, people falling onto the platform. i saw the big burst of fire come up. you could tell it was a huge flame coming up. i was close enough to seek but not close enough to be hurt. you said there was panic, can you give a sense of how people were behaving? it was really just everyone was in survival mode to get off that train. even people who weren't close to where it happened, everyone could tell there was something going on. definitely absolute panic to get off, people falling on top of each other. really just a sense of absolute fear. did

you see people being trampled?m wasn't so bad for me because i was at the back of the train, there was at the back of the train, there was a bit of trampling happening getting off but because it took us a while to get out of the station, by the time we got there, i think it had calmed down because the main trampling to get out of the station happened for the people at the front of the train. at the time how crowded was the train? it was crowded. i guess it's the typical age 20 am... lots of people standing and seated. that's what causes more on the door is open and everyone trying to get out, everybody standing on each other because there is that level of crowding. standing on each other because there is that level of crowdinglj standing on each other because there is that level of crowding. i wonder, when he got off the train, how much help and guidance was there as to how best to exit the station? to be honest there was a lot of confusion. ididn't honest there was a lot of confusion. i didn't know what was happening.

neither did the people around me. by the time we made our way to the stairs, we weren't being allowed down, maybe that was because of the initial crash that happened, people trying to get out. there was a lady who got brought off the train... her hair was badly burned, she was holding her ear, ithink hair was badly burned, she was holding her ear, i think she'd hair was badly burned, she was holding her ear, ithink she'd been quite badly injured. we were trying to let her through as priority to get down. at that point there was somebody saying, everybody make your way up, that was the one person i saw. we couldn't get down the stairs, so it caused more panic because we were scared something else was going to happen and we were stuck on the platform. we're so grateful for your time, stuck on the platform. we're so gratefulfor your time, take stuck on the platform. we're so grateful for your time, take care and many thanks for talking us. back to my colleague, matthew price, in south—west london. back to my colleague, matthew price, in south-west london. thanks very much, just listening to that and

seeing some children walking past on their way home from nursery, on the way home from school, the school day begins to end and you remember this wasn't just a packed begins to end and you remember this wasn'tjust a packed commuter train, with people heading to work at quarter past eight in the morning when it happened, there were children heading to schools and nurseries, incredibly frightening for everybody involved. thankfully at this stage we don't believe anybody was killed. 22 people in hospital who have and are being treated. the police described their injuries as mostly blast injuries. we heard a few moments ago the first comments on camera from the prime minister. in that interview she was asked what the mail of london sadiq khan had had to say about his request for an increase in police resources in the capital. we thought it might be useful to have a quick recap of what he had to say in full.

here is sadiq khan. the young we got the best police and security services in the world. the emergency responders, also the excellent work of tfl staff is something we should all be incredibly proud of. what you are seeing now is an investigation that will run its course. there are various things i can't discuss in public, you wouldn't expect me or the police to discuss publicly. all ican the police to discuss publicly. all i can reassure the public about is that the police, security services and others are working their socks off to make sure those responsible for this attack are caught and see justice. is there a danger they are in danger of becoming overwhelmed by the level of threat? i think the police have already said, the phrase iremind police have already said, the phrase i remind londoners about, those around the country, from the experts, this isn't a spike, i'm afraid, it's a shift. notjust in relation to terrorists intending to

attack london, but also other cities across the western world. we have to make sure we are vigilant, make sure we're alert, if anybody has any information at all please either call 999 or the counter hotline, a special hotline. 0800 789 321. i'm not going to apologise for saying we need more resources in london, i won't apologise for saying our police work incredibly hard but we could do with more resources, more police in london. said there was still at parsons green, as you'd expect, substantial police and fire presence. the police working inside that station at the moment. looking at the carriage itself, at the device. beginning to piece together from forensic evidence what has happened. we know they are currently scouring a lot of cctv images.

especially those images of the train line between here, parsons green, and further west and south, wimbledon, where this trend started its journey. a lot of evidence to go through. our home affairs correspondent telling us earlier they'll be looking at notjust cctv footage but mobile phone and credit ca rd footage but mobile phone and credit card records, trying to piece together a complex picture of who put this device onto the train this morning. more from matthew after 3pm. for now, thanks. let's catch up with the weather news. lucy martin has the forecast. continuing the cool and showery theme to the next few days, and we have high pressure will start to building as we move through the weekend and as it influences are whether we'll see less in the way of showers. sunday looking like the best day for dry weather. many of us started dry but seeing showers

through wales and the south—west of england in particular, scattering of showers on the east coast as well. moving through the afternoon we'll see showers getting going. a mixture of sunny spells and showers in the afternoon. northerly breeze, so not feeling particularly warm. there's showers can be persistent across east anglia, through the afternoon. temperatures down a degree or two thanks to more of a northerly wind direction, eyes of around 15, 16 degrees. showers across the south west and wales. england and wales showers could be heavy enough for the odd rumble of thunder. the further north you are across northern england and southern scotland, more sheltered, so fewer showers for northern ireland and north—east scotland. showers. not feeling particularly warm with temperatures in the mid—teens. through the evening and into the night, inland showers become confined to the coast, particularly north—east scotland and the eastern coast, through wales and the south—west. but it'll be a chilly night. temperatures falling to nine,

10 celsius. really there will be a few degrees cooler. there will be plenty of sunshine around, if you showers particularly across north—east parts and into northern ireland. as we go through the day, showers start to get going. i pressure pushes into the afternoon, more in the way of dry weather pushing into northern scotland. feeling cool with ties between 13 and 16 celsius. chilly night on saturday night, temperatures close to freezing in rural areas. on sunday, a fresh start of the day. patches of mist and fog should lift quickly. more in the way of dry weather. risk of seeing a shower into the afternoon particularly across southern and eastern parts of england. with light winds and more in the way of sunshine, temperatures feeling warm. i is between 13 and 18 celsius. —— highs between 13 and 18.

this is bbc news. i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at 3pm. an explosion on a packed tube train in south west london injures 22. theresa may has led an emergency cobra meeting. the threat of terrorism that we face is severe. but together, by working together, we will defeat them. eyewitnesses say the blast set off a fireball in the train. there was a stampede as passengers fled in panic. there were just layers and layers of people screaming. it wasjust really traumatic. the mayor of london says a manhunt is under way as police in the underground station behind me search for evidence, while dozens of others are sifting through hundreds