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 of cctv images to see who was behind this. 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 prime minister said the terror threat level would be kept under review. the device detonated at 820 this morning at parsons green station on the district line in south west london. matthew price is there. this was the fifth terrorist attack,

the fifth successful terrorist attack in britain this year. unlike the others, however, nobody died in this. in the previous poor attacks 36 people lost their lives, yet it is not being taken any less seriously because of that. as you have just heard, the seriously because of that. as you havejust heard, the prime minister of britain has caused —— called an emergency session of the cobra committee that looks into things like this, and they have just broken up like this, and they have just broken up in the meeting and we will hear more from that in a little while. at the moment the police are in the station just down the road here behind me at parsons green. it is pa rt behind me at parsons green. it is part of the london network which is above ground. eyewitnesses who on the train at the time spoke of the panic and pandemonium as they rushed from their carriages, along the platform and down a narrow stairwell to get out of the station and onto

the streets around here. 8:20am this morning and a commuter captures this on camera through the window of a tube train. that bag is on fire. it is still alight, 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, 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.

it 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 station was evacuated. people were coming out of the station 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 were wrapped up and she has been burned. she has burns to herface. she was conscious and was taking pain relief and oxygen. but clearly people have sustained 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 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. a counterterrorism investigation is now under way. we now assess that this was the detonation of an improvised explosive device. 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. 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 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 are shaken, but there is a sense that this could have been far worse. a bomb in the corner of a tube train apparently not spotted by anyone. police have again warned that there

is a need for calm, but also vigilance. inside parsons green tube station at the moment, the police are working, and so are the fire brigade. they are looking through the evidence they have quite a lot of evidence they have quite a lot of evidence the home affairs correspondent was telling us earlier presumably because of the partial explosion of this device. there is still something for them to look at and analyse and do forensic tests on. that will aid the investigation, but in addition to that there is also a host of video images and photographic evidence that they will be looking at and are looking at at the moment. cctv images and also images the public will have taken to try and ascertain who did this and

carried it out and when they put the device on the train, and where did they then go and where are they now? some of those questions were presumably with the prime minister and other colleagues were trying to consider this morning in an emergency cobra meeting and this is what the prime minister had to say after that meeting. to say after that meetinglj to say after that meeting. i have chaired a meeting of cobra following this cowardly terrorist attack that took place on the london underground at parsons green. clearly this was a device in —— intended to cause significant harm and 22 people have been injured and are being treated in hospital and our thoughts are with all of those affected by the attack. emergency services what on the scene immediately and i would like to thank them for their professionalism and their bravery. the police and security services are, obviously, doing all of the work to discover the full

circumstances of this cowardly attack and to identify those responsible. i would urge any members of the public if they have any information or footage of what happened this morning to pass it to the police urgently. the threat level remains at severe, which means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but this will be kept under review as the investigation progresses. the public should go about their daily lives but remain vigilant. people who are travelling in london will see an increased armed police presence on the transport network, and they will see security will be increased and the police will, of course, do what is necessary to protect the public. the prime minister speaking just a few moments ago after the emergency cobra meeting that she chaired the cabinet office here in london. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford is at new scotland yard. daniel, you are getting some more

information about the police operation, the investigation that is going on in the tube station behind me at the moment. that's right. you will find that some of the people moving around behind you will be residents who have actually been evacuated from their homes because the police have now set up a 15 metre wide evacuation zone around parsons green tube station which is to allow them to secure the remains that improvised explosive device, and to make sure it is stable clearly, while they move that bucket full of home—made explosive, there are concerns that it could go off. what they are trying to do is make sure that they can recover that and make sure that it is safe for them to recover that, and while they are doing that there will be a total evacuation of people for 50 metres around parsons green tube station. not a wide radius, but some residents have had to be removed

from their homes while the work goes on, and what is in that bucket is incredibly important, because there will be forensic clues. we have seen essentially a sludge which is presumably some kind of explosive sludge with fairy lights on it, which would have been part of the debtor nation. we know there was a timer device attached to that, but this is stuff that will need to go after the explosives laboratory for examination in order for the after the explosives laboratory for examination in orderfor the police to work out how the device was built and hopefully work out who built it. the endgame in all of this is to catch the person who planted the bomb. anyone who may have worked with them, and to try and bring them to trial. daniel, what information about the wider investigation and specifically what the mayor of london has called the manhunt? we

know the manhunt is progressing well. from what mark rowley said, hundreds of detectives are being put to work on this and one of the things they are doing is trawling through cctv images and they will try to match those cctv images up with information about which cards have used the ticket barriers at which time to get firstly a usable image from the cctv cameras and also possibly some information about the ca rd possibly some information about the card or phone of the person who might have planted the device. i think the work is going quite successfully, as far as i can tell but we do not have anyone in custody at this point and there is no information from the police about having arrested anyone, so everyone can assume that at this point there isa can assume that at this point there is a manhunt going on for at least one person, the person responsible for planting the bomb, and possibly for planting the bomb, and possibly for others who might have helped them build it. daniel, thank you

very much. i would like to bring in the former chief superintendent of the former chief superintendent of the met police. this is u nfortu nately the met police. this is unfortunately something that london's police and indeed police forces in other parts of the country have had to deal with in the past. what is the focus on right now?m will be very much about the investigation, looking at the cctv evidence and making sure we are able to identify the individual or individuals involved in this. we don't know how many it is, whether it is male or female, far right or islamist group, so that is a key thing. the metropolitan police will work with counterterrorism command to identify as much intelligence as possible. those are the key things. they will be looking for witnesses, so they will be looking for witnesses, so anybody who has images or might have seen something suspicious, fortunately the device did not go off properly and that saved a lot of lives, but from their their will get

a lot of evidence, dna and fingerprint evidence. cctv, everyone is talking about it this morning. this is a busy underground line, but also one that has an awful lot of cameras on it. it will likely huge difference in solving this matter. it's very distinctive, a bag there that did not go off, so people will look at that and that the moment, mark crowley, the head of counterterrorism, has talked about people looking at that. the two key element will be about forensics and gathering witness statements. element will be about forensics and gathering witness statementsm there anything you would want to stay at —— say at this stage, and we have to be careful about speculation, but from what we have seen, the photographs, the images of that device in what looks like a builders bucket, quite a large device. is there that struck you about what you have seen?

device. is there that struck you about what you have seemm device. is there that struck you about what you have seen? it was just how incredibly crude was. what we have seen is a dichotomy where we have encryption used by individuals on what sap, facebook or whatever device they use —— whatsapp to radicalise influence people, so the highest level of encryption you have things that cannot be used, but of the other end you have low—tech terrorism in terms of a bucket with what appears to be chemicals in there with a crude timer device. on there with a crude timer device. on the other side of it you have this syste m the other side of it you have this system where people having credited systems. we need that these companies who make billions of pounds, and when there is concern about terrorism, they contact their local agency and share the information. a crude device and i'm no expert, but it would look as though it did not go off as perhaps have been intended, so we got what

people describe as a fireball, yet not perhaps a huge explosion. is that how you would see it from the limited information you have? yes, it clearly did not go off in the way intended, so some of the chemicals might have ignited and others didn't so might have ignited and others didn't so they were not able to bring everything together and that is a low—tech and crude element in it. we are talking about individuals who prodded haven't got a great deal of experience in this area. we have seen that in other areas. people who are underthe seen that in other areas. people who are under the radar seen that in other areas. people who are underthe radaram not seen that in other areas. people who are under the radar am not known to authorities. more difficult to get hold of them. thank you very much indeed for spending some time with us indeed for spending some time with us this afternoon. you might have seenin us this afternoon. you might have seen in the background a family that just walked past beyond the police cordoned and have passed into the streets here. we heard earlierfrom daniel sandford that the police have actually emptied a few of the houses in the immediate vicinity of where

that crude device is, because they will start to try and remove that in the coming moments, and obviously when they do that, they don't want anybody at risk but there are still people in most of the houses, beyond the police cordon, but most of the houses still have people living in them and are inside them at the moment and i'll write within the cordoned. so clearly —— and are right within the cordoned. so clearly a difficult time. our political correspondent leila nathoo is outside the cabinet office where the government's emergency committee, cobra has been meeting the prime minister was speaking after that meeting a little earlier. that's right. theresa may was called back from her constituency to westminster to chair a meeting of cobra, the committee that convenes after a major national incident such as this and it brings together ministers, civil servants, intelligence officials and it was where theresa may was given a full update on the investigation so far

and what happened this morning in parsons green. we heard from par after the meeting was over, talking about a cowardly attack —— we heard from her. she confirmed that the threat level remains at severe, not the highest level, which is critical, so it has not been increased and it is at severe. she is urging the public to be vigilant and says that there will be an armed police presence visible on the streets, but you might remember in the aftermath of the london bridge attacks earlier this year, they followed the bomb attack in manchester and another attack here in westminster earlier in the year, and theresa may's tone there was very strong. she talked about terrorism and how we cannot pretend that things can continue as they are. she said things needed to change. we did not hear that sort of strong language from her two day in the aftermath of this. a bit of a more measured tone “— the aftermath of this. a bit of a

more measured tone —— from her today. she said she remained committed to dealing with terrorism and the hate which incites it. she said the government was working with internet companies to stop hatred spreading. but i think, for now, we are still very much in the investigation phase and certainly are waiting to hear if cobra will reconvene, but at the moment theresa may is urging calm, praising the emergency services and reassuring the public that the threat level is still not at its highest level, critical, which means another attack would be imminent. instead it stays at the level it is now, which is severe. i am wondering if, politically, this gets challenging for the prime minister and for the government. you have the labour mayor of london, sadiq khan, saying in his statement that we need to look again at police resources for the capital. those are the sort of words that we hear from others elsewhere in the country when

similar attacks take place. of course, this week, we had the increase in police wages, and yet from within existing budgets. at what point does the political aspect gets so strong that the government has to do reconsider the funding of the police? i think you are right. policing, police numbers and police pay, its been a hot political topic for. you remember in the election campaign following the terror attacks which took during the campaign, policing during the streets became a big issue. labour we re streets became a big issue. labour were talking about police cuts and suggested they had perhaps played a pa rt suggested they had perhaps played a part in police capacity to deal with these sorts of threat. in terms of this particular explosion today it is, perhaps, to sue to start the political arguments —— too soon.

police can't —— sadiq khan was mentioning the police in london, and theresa may maintained that police budgets were being protected and the numbers of armed police were actually being increased. but i think we can expect, in the coming days, for the argument about police numbers and police pay to resurface. this week we had a pay rise for police officers, a i% pay rise and bonus, having to be funded from existing budgets and the suggestion from police chiefs that services might suffer elsewhere to fund the pay increase. but where we are now, we certainly haven't got into the political argument about policing yet, but i wouldn't be surprised if we heard more of that in the coming days. thank you very much indeed. as we have been saying all day, this was a very we have been saying all day, this was a very busy training indeed. an awful lot of people on it at 815 or

820 a.m. when the device went on. on the line is neil white who was sat in the very last carriage of the tube train when the explosion happened. good afternoon, and how are you? good afternoon, and how are you? good afternoon. i'm better than i was first thing this morning, that is for sure. you were actually on the last carriage of the train.|j was, yes. i boarded the train at wimbledon and then i go to earls court and get another train from there, and i was on the very last carriage on the last six seats at the very rear of the train, the last door by the last carriage. how far—away was the device when it went off? i think it was a couple of carriages away from where i was, maybe the next carriage. i heard a dull thud when we pulled into parsons green and i assumed we had

hit something on the line or the train had become derailed. and it wasn't clear what it was and i couldn't see any way because the train was so busy. it was packed with people and i didn't have a line of sight down the carriage. the next thing i knew there was screaming and shouting, and people heading for the exit doors. there was a stampede, really, as people panicked and were obviously very frightened. they wa nted obviously very frightened. they wanted to get out as soon as possible. and you were among them, presumably. i heard earlier as we had one person knew who was on the train who had run off down the track with a small group of people, but the majority ran along the platform and down the stairs onto the street. that is right. i exited the train onto the platform and, by that point, the platform was solid with people. as i came off the train i

saw a woman spread—eagled on the platform as she had fallen over getting out of the train and i tried to assist and she said she was ok. but there were a lot of people on the ground, a lot of bags, a lot of ladies shoes on the ground, personal belongings left on the train. people literally just got off belongings left on the train. people literallyjust got off their belongings left on the train. people literally just got off their seats and rushed out the door. it was a bit of a scrum, actually, getting out the train because everybody wa nted out the train because everybody wanted to get out of the same time. people panicked. it was unclear what was happening. we didn't really know why people were rushing out will stop at my end of the carriage we did not know what was going on further up the train so we just left along with everyone else. it was difficult getting onto the platform because it was so busy. my concern was to get away from the edge because i did not want to get pushed onto the tracks but i did see people climbing over barriers, people going

in every direction, really, to get off the train. it sounds very frightening, neil. iwonderwhether it is too early to say this, but i wonder how you will feel the next time you get on the tube line. well, i have to get a train after that to go to work, so i had to get on another tube. i just thought, go to work, so i had to get on another tube. ijust thought, you ta ke another tube. ijust thought, you take the risk, don't you? you don't know what is going to happen in london and you just travel every day in hope that you will have a safe journey to somewhere. you can't let anything like that cloud your judgment will stop obviously you have to be careful and where is what —— aware of what is going on around you, but you have to use public transport to get into work, so there is no option, really. you have to put those fears at the back of your head, really. indeed you do. do look after yourself and anybody else you

we re after yourself and anybody else you were on the train with, and i hope the weekend is at least peaceful for you and that the next commute is not too difficult. neil, thank you for joining us. we have had a statement from the chelsea and westminster hospital in the last few moments. let's have a look at that. it is from its chief operating officer robert hotchkiss. well, apologies we do not yet have that lined up at the moment. what we do know from the hospitals is that 22 people are currently in hospital, or at least were being treated in hospital, and those 22 people had mostly blast injuries according to

the police. before we head to the hospital to get that statement, let's talk to doctor david lowe, a former counterterrorism officer. good afternoon. i wonder, from what you have seen, and i imagine a lot of that will be from the news reports, but from what you have seen, what are you piecing together as to what has happened here? seen, what are you piecing together as to what has happened here7m looks as though it has been a rather amateurish device used. as you said, the information i'm getting is from the information i'm getting is from the likes of yourselves and it is a rather crude device. this is someone who maybe is not a skilled or experienced in the use of explosives or inputting them together. we are looking at another target where you have a large group of people in one place, perhaps in more recent times

this is the first time we've seen one on the london underground, but we are looking again at individuals who are inspired by some form of extremist narrative. we have to wait and see. we had to see what comes out of the investigation and whether someone will claim responsibility. but we have to be open—minded. they we re but we have to be open—minded. they were maybe acting on their own, or maybe they had planned to be advised —— device and were relatively inexperienced. what we have to think about, and it's horrific when you contemplate it, parsons green is not a high—profile target, but that is the point. the point of this is to cause panic. and to kill people. yes, we have seen this. i believe the device had a timer on it, so did it go off prematurely because parsons green, you wouldn't identify that location as a high—risk location. it's on the district line

and error stops further down the line which would be locations that they might want to attack. the injuries have been caused as well from the panic of people coming off the train itself. there is that thing in trying to be as calm as we can. this is the fifth attack in the uk, fourof them can. this is the fifth attack in the uk, four of them in london, one in manchester and maybe lord evans, the former director of m15, was right when he said we could experience this for 20 or 30 years. five successful attacks, but we also understand that around five or six attacks the police say have been thwarted and that those are progressing through the court system. so there are intelligence su ccesses . system. so there are intelligence successes. and presumably, intelligence, and what they might glean from what happened here, they have a partially exploded package which that the vital notjust building up

a picture of the personal people involved in this but also a wider picture that will feed into that intelligence gathering perspective. figures were released yesterday on the number of arrests for terrorism so it shows how proactive. i'm aware myself from the connections i still have that the police and security services not my connections are more with the police at the moment, they've been very busy as you can imagine. you can see there are great su ccesses imagine. you can see there are great successes still from major attacks having been prevented from being carried out. the intelligence that goes in, that whole area, notjust the train, we'll be looking at the crime scene, the device itself. see what components are still there. it all vital evidence. doctor david lowe thank you very much indeed for

joining us. let's get an update on the people who have been injured in this. the chelsea and westminster hospital is one of those hospitals where the 22 people are being treated, either taken to hospital, all have taken themselves to hospital in the aftermath of this incident. robert hotchkiss is the chief operating officer at the hospital. i can confirm following this morning's incident in parsons green we initiated major incident protocol. we've been working closely with emergency services to treat patients in a safe and timely manner. our major incident plans here are well tested and our doctors and nurses have worked incredibly ha rd to and nurses have worked incredibly hard to ensure our casualties received excellent care along with the rest of the patients we treat here. as of 1pm today we stood down from our major incident status and we continue with business as usual. we received a total of 1a casualties

with a small number of admissions to our specialist burns unit. i'd like to think all of our staff for their incredible hard work they've carried out today under very difficult circumstances. our thoughts are with those affected by today's events, thank you very much. robert hotchkiss from the chelsea and westminster hospital. we'll continue our coverage from west london through the afternoon and into the evening but for now let's get a weather update with lucy. in mixture of sunny spells and showers over the next few days, staying fairly cool. i pressure pushing in, we'll see fewer showers. sunday looking like the better day of the weekend. showers will fizzle out, coastal areas will see if you showers. it'll be a fairly cool, temperatures cooler than that relief. we start saturday with good spells of sunshine around, if you showers in coastal areas persisting.

as we move through the day, cloud bubbling up and showers across the board. temperatures around 16 celsius with a northerly breeze. it'll feel fairly cool. i pressure pushing into scotland, seeing more in the way of dry weather. overnight the winds will ease and we'll see a fairly cool night. we could see temperatures falling close to freezing. a touch of ground frost knocked out of the question. i pressure in charge, good spells of sunshine, the order of the isolated shower into the afternoon. you watching 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 held an emergency cobra meeting, and condemned the attack as cowardly. the threat of terrorism that we face is severe, but together, by working together, we will defeat them. china has condemned north korea's latest missile test, but says it does not hold the key to reining in pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. in the latest test, a north korean intermediate range missile flew over japan before crashing into the pacific. the foreign secretary borisjohnson 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% 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 explained the unions' case. every day people are leaving the nhs for better paid work elsewhere. so we're taking the unprecedented step, as trade unions, seizing this initiative and setting out what we would like the chancellor to set aside in the budget, so all nhs staff ca n aside in the budget, so all nhs staff can get a fair 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 thousand 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. let's return to our main story. 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 8:20 — 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. it's believed the device failed to fully explode. theresa may has led an emergency cobra meeting. the prime minister has said that the police and security services were doing all they could to identify those responsible for the "cowardly attack." i've chaired a meeting of cobra following this cowardly terrorist attack that took place on the london underground as parsons green. clearly this was a device that was 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 severe, that means a terrorist attack is highly likely. but this will be kept under review as the investigation progresses. and the public should go about their daily lives, but remain vigilant. and people who are travelling in london will see an increased armed police presence on the transport network, and they'll see it security will be increased and the police 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. you said

following the london bridge attack a few months ago that enough is enough and we've been too tolerant of extremism. is that still your view, and how do you intend to tackle this threat? yes, we do need to ensure we are dealing with notjust the terror threat, but with the extremism and the hate that can actually incite that terrorism. that's why we're looking very carefully at the powers that our police and security services have 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, and next week i'll be chairing a session, co—hosting with president macron from france to talk about what more we can be doing to ensure that we deal with the terrorist propaganda, 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 anyone to speculate on an ongoing investigation. as i'vejust said, the police and security services are working to discover the full circumstances of this cowardly attack, and to identify all those responsible. sadiq khan was that your meeting and said london needs more police, more police stations, more police, more police stations, more resources. will they get it? we're very clear, we've protected police budgets and predicted counterterrorism policing and made sure it's possible for the police to increase the number of armed police. once again the emergency services, police and others responded immediately to this attack and were on the scene immediately. we thank them for their professionalism and bravery. with a past our american president donald trump spoke briefly to reporters before going into the oval

office and said he'd been briefed on the attack, calling it a terrible thing. it's a terrible thing. it just keeps going and going. and we have to be very smart, we have to be very, very tough. which perhaps we are not nearly tough enough. but thatis are not nearly tough enough. but that is just an absolutely terrible thing, in fact, that is just an absolutely terrible thing, infact, i'm going that is just an absolutely terrible thing, in fact, i'm going to call the prime minister right now. have you been briefed on intelligence about the attack? yes, i have come on numerous things happening, including north korea. so i've been briefed and i'm going in right now. what did you mean when you said the muslim ban has to be more specific? we have to be tougher and we have to be smarter, thank you. donald trump speaking within the last hour. a short time ago i spoke to our security correspondent frank gardner who gave us thought‘s on the government's decision not to raise the security threat level. this threat level is not decided by

the government, it is decided by an independent... welcome a national body, thejoint independent... welcome a national body, the joint terrorism analysis centre, a fusion cell of around 100 specialists that sits inside m15 headquarters at thames house on the embankment and they analyse all threats to uk security 2a hours a day. their advice to the government is mandatory. we're currently at severe which means terrorist attack is thought to be highly likely. if they think another attack is imminent, it has to go up to critical. which is what happened after the manchester arena bombing, because at the time they wrongly thought there was a bomb maker out there making other devices. in fact there making other devices. in fact the bomb maker was salman abedi, who died in the blast. this attack although it appears to have failed to carry out its original huge damage, the perpetrator is still at large, so i'm quite surprised in a way, moving it up to critical is a big step. it doesn't happen very

often, it's not a decision taken lightly, it involves calling people off leave, and an extra guard, an intensive, exhaustive process that can only last a few days. they will have been reluctant to do it, but in mind there would have been justification. frank gardner. let's cross back to my colleague matthew price in south west london. there are a couple of people walking up there are a couple of people walking up from within the police cordon, the houses on the street behind me which lead up to parsons green tube station, which isjust beyond police, couple of hundred meters away, the houses here, they've not all been evacuated. the area, the council leader, the local council leader was telling me about an hour or so ago the area itself is largely deemed to be safe except for a very small cordon, our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford was telling us earlier, of about 50 metres or so radius around the

station itself, because at this stage those investigating this incident, this crime, are currently trying to move, we believe, the remains of this device. clearly, because it is believed it only partially went off, there is essentially volatile substance there. they are trying to remove it, therefore, they've moved people away from about 50 metres from the station itself. as for the investigation that is going on, the latest update we had came in the hours immediately following the explosion and the subsequent panic here at parsons green station. the update came from the deputy commissioner of the metropolitan police, mark rowley. i want to talk briefly about the incident, about the police response and what we need from the public at this time. so, firstly, in relation to the incident, as you reported at 8.20am this morning, at parsons green tube station, there was an explosion on a tube train. also, anybody with images, often people take photos and film at the scene of such incidents, anyone with such images of the incident can contact us.

we have a website where they can download the images to and we will ask broadcasters to run that website address across their ticker tape over the next hour. finally, i'd ask the public to remain vigilant across london and to be alert in assisting us but not to be alarmed. an appealfor an appeal for people to send in any information or images they may have, to build up a picture of who carry this out. the cctv images on the london underground network or over the place, those cameras, cctv images will be crucial as they conduct what london mayor sadiq khan has called a manhunt. in terms of where this investigation might go, what might be important, it's worth having a listen to this next interview, with richard walton,

former head of counterterrorism at scotla nd former head of counterterrorism at scotland yard. he helped fill in some of the background. reporting on the nature of this device, what do you make of it? it's dangerous to regulate at this stage and my former collea g u es regulate at this stage and my former colleagues will be keeping an open mind as to the nature of this attack. clearly the bomb hasn't done what it was intended to do, which is to kill and what it was intended to do, which is to killand maim many what it was intended to do, which is to kill and maim many people. there's a sense of relief, i'm sure, that the injuries are minor, not severe or life—threatening. the bomb itself looks like for the constituent parts look like many of the devices we seen over the years. also many of the devices on the islamic internet sites, which inspire individuals to carry out attacks using home—made bombs and readily available chemicals. bbc

sources are telling us they learn this one may have had a time on it. again, a time, if it has indeed got a timer, it's pretty much the norm. in terms of home—made devices. it's certainly what is recommended in the literature from the islamic extremist websites. that said, again, we should be careful about speculation, speculating this is an islamic attack. it might not be. you will recall back in may earlier this yearan will recall back in may earlier this year an individual, 20—year—old man, david smith, was convicted given 15 yea rs david smith, was convicted given 15 years imprisonment for leaving a similar device such as this on a train at north greenwich on the jubilee line in october. again, the motive was not that clear. it looked like islamic related terrorism. this indeed on the face of it looks as much, but of course it could be a lone individual or it could be somebody as part of a cell, it could be the start of a campaign or it

could be a one—off incident. we don't know at this stage and i think we should let the inquiry and investigation take its course. presumably, we heard earlierfrom the assistant commissioner for the metropolitan police, who was saying they now have dozens of offices to bee officers going through cctv images, the the public upload any images, the the public upload any images to their website that may be useful, bearing in mind where this train had come from, if few stops down the line, presumably 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 a coat. they may well already have images of the person they believe put it on 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 there is help them with their investigation is a moot point. we have to wait and see. there is extensive coverage across

the london underground network and has been for some considerable time. it was instrumental in identifying the attackers during the 7—7 attacks during 2005, some 15 years ago. cctv evidence was critical identifying with those individuals were. it happened in a matter of days. richard boldon, former head of counterterrorism at scotland yard. let's bring you what the mayor of london sadiq khan had to say earlier today. he had a message for londoners. there was also a political purpose to his message in which he appealed for more resources as far as police are concerned, in london, because of the threat this city continues to face. we've got the best police and security services in the world, they working credibly hard day in, day out. the met police, m15, emergency

responders, and the work of the tfl staff, something we should be incredibly proud of. what you're seeing now is an investigation that'll run its course. there are things i can't discuss in public, you'd not expect me the police discuss publicly. there are various things i can't discuss publicly but i can reassure the public that the police and 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 of becoming overwhelmed by the sheer level of the threat? i think the police have already said, and the phrase i would remind londoners about, this is not a spike but a shift in relation to terrorists attacking cities in the western world. we have to be vigilant and make sure we are alert. if anyone has any information at all please ring 999 or the counterterror hotline — 0800 789 321. it is the best we can do to keep us safe but i will not apologise

for saying we need more resources and police in london. the police work very hard but we could do with more resources. the local council here, hammersmith and fulham council, have been working very hard indeed to make sure everybody is getting the support they need. just a short while ago, on this very spot, i spoke to the labour leader of the council, stephen coward. and like to bring in the leader of the local council. thanks very much for joining us here on bbc news. when you first heard about this, what happened from the council perspective? it happened about

8:20am and shortly after i was called to see what had happened, briefed on it, and told we'd come to the gold command structure, a central co—ordinated emergency effort was put in place. i was down here within half an hour, we didn't know what would happen next. whether it was the first of one, of other attacks that would happen, how it might unfold. we were prepared to evacuate people, deal with the consequences of what might be involved. the security services completely locked this thing down and have been deeply impressive, as you can probably see. while we are still investigating what has happened, i think they are hunted and they've maintained the issue and shortly people can go about their business. what intelligence are you getting in terms of what happened on that train? any guide you can give us as to how that manhunt is going? there is a very sophisticated approach. we have cctv information,

people trained to analyse different data from the internet, all sorts of other different sources. there will now be a considerable and coordinated approach to understanding who might have done this, whether they were known to security services in advance. that will involve over the coming days, i'm confident they will make the right type of progress on this issue. the second thing, which is always a priority in such incidents, what do we have to do to keep citizens safe ? what do we have to do to keep citizens safe? that's why you saw this part of full on complete lockdown with very coordinated approach. police helicopters in the sky, still looking for other evidence. looking what's happening on the ground. i think people should be very much reassured by that. given what's happened. it's a residential area as we can see through our television pictures. has there been any need to evacuate people from houses? a small number

of people were taken from their houses in the immediate vicinity but there hasn't been any large—scale evacuation, it is not to say we didn't have processes in line if the situation had been more dangerous than we initially thought. but it wasn't. i think this has been a terrible thing but not as bad as it could have been. i think now we've got to understand who did it, what happened, see what we do next. for leader of the local council. that evacuation of properties close to the train station because there is still that device on the platform. on the train they believe. they will try and move it in the coming moments. we'll have continuing coverage from here but for now back to you. you may have heard mark rowley, who spoke about the investigation. he asked people to upload images or video that could prove helpful to

that investigation and we thought it might be worth reminding you of the address. www. ukpoliceimageappeal. co. uk. let's catch up with the weather. on the other side of the newsroom, on the weather balcony, is lucy martin. a mixture of sunny spells and showers. we're seeing sunny storms across somerset and dorset. those showers tend to have picked up as we've moved through the afternoon. there are good spells of sunshine around, some of those showers heavy with the odd rumble of thunder mix in. going through the evening and overnight and inland showers will tend to die out. if you coastal showers persisting. it'll be a fairly chilly night, temperatures in towns and cities falling to a minimum of nine, 10 celsius. rowley

temperatures into single figures. chilly start of the day. plenty of brightness around first thing. good spells of sunshine across the south. one to showers across the west of the south—west of england and the west of wales. feeling fairly fresh first thing. this is around 9am tomorrow. if you showers across the eastern coast but some good spells of sunshine across northern england and southern scotland. fair amount of dry weather, seeing a few showers for the far north of scotland and one to across northern ireland as well. as we move through the day we'll see cloud bubbling up. there will be a few showers spreading out as we go through the day. in between, a mixture of sunny spells. high pressure pushing into scotland. more in the way of dry weather later. feeling cool with highs of around 16 celsius. i pressure will push in as we move into sunday, that means we'll see fewer showers. winds easing slightly as well. it means

we're in for easing slightly as well. it means we're infora easing slightly as well. it means we're in for a very chilly night. on saturday night. these are the temperatures in towns and cities. we're looking at temperatures falling closer to freezing and we'll see touch of grass frost on sunday morning, some of us waking up to seems like this. there will be good spells of sunshine as we move through sunday. there is the risk of the odd isolated shower into the afternoon, particularly for the south and east of england. with winds around, it'll feel warmer, temperatures reaching 18 celsius. this is bbc news. i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at apm. an explosion on a packed tube train in south—west london injures 22.