Terror in London

The sound of the radio-alarm woke me up this morning at about 10 a.m. Over the radio I vaguely heard the news about two underground trains colliding with each other. "Hmph. Such a great impression this city is giving after winning the Olympic bid," I thought as I drowsily turned off the radio.

Not long after that I received missed calls from home and smses from my mom. She sounded worried ('worried' is a gross understatement) and urgently asked me to call back. Mobile network was bad in the morning, and when the call from home finally got through, that was when I realized what had happened.

A bus blew up in Tavistock Square in central london. 3 other explosions happened on the London Underground, one of it happened near Algate East station, not very far from where I live.

After September 11, 2001, many expected London to suffer the same fate as the US. Almost four years down the line, it finally happened.

With the G8 Summit happening today and Londoners still unrecovered from the exhilaration of being chosen as host for Olympic 2012, the timing is almost impeccable that you almost have to admire the twisted minds behind this. They could not have chosen a more perfect timing.

After the phone call from home, I spent the next hour receiving calls from friends and making calls to others to find out if everyone's okay. Alhamdulillah, no one was involved. Then another friend called to say that they needed help from medical students at Royal London Hospital, where most of the victims from Algate East were taken to. Our halls of residence is just behind the hospital, so it did not take long for us to get there.

Almost 300 people were sent to Royal London Hospital, and the hospital cafeteria had to be converted into a temporary A&E Minors. Doctors, nurses, hospital staff were everywhere.

Security was tight, they only allowed hospital personnel and medical students with IDs onto the premise. We were directed to the lecture theatre where we sometimes have our teaching sessions, and there were quite a number of students already there, watching the BBC news projected onto the screen. After about half an hour, one of the doctors informed that they had enough manpower as all the staff were sent to help out at the A&E, and told us we could go home.

Madness, absolute madness.

A group of people calling themselves the Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in Europe claimed to be responsible for the attack.

When the terrorists launched their attack on America in 2001, it felt to me more like a horror movie on television. Turn the tv off, and things would go back to normal. When people asked about my opinion of it, like other people, I condemned the actions of the terrorists, saying that the usage of violence wasn't in the teachings of Islam. However despite that, secretly I actually thought that America received its come-uppance for their policies regarding the Middle East.

I know better now. And I am very ashamed for ever thinking that way. In all these attacks, innocent people were victims, and nothing in the world can justify such actions. Hutang darah tak boleh dibayar dengan darah. Every life is precious, and no crime in the world can be atoned with further violence.