London Police Kill Man at Point Blank: Witness

London Police Kill Man at Point Blank: Witness

"They (police) pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him," the eyewitness told the BBC. (Reuters)

LONDON, July 22, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – London police reportedly shot a man five times in the head, instantly killing him, at an Underground subway station in south London Friday, July 22, after chasing him down, eyewitnesses and police said.

"We can confirm that just after 10 am (0900 GMT) armed officers entered Stockwell Tube station," a police spokesman said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"A man was challenged by officers and subsequently shot... He was pronounced dead at the scene."

Witnesses quoted by BBC News 24 and Sky News said the man who was shot appeared to have been of south Asian origin, and that five shots were fired -- by one account, at point blank by one of the police officers.

Passenger Mark Whitby told BBC News he had seen the man shot five times by "plain-clothes police officers" with a handgun.

"I saw the gun being fired five times into the guy -- he is dead," he was quoted by the BBC as saying.

Whitby told BBC News: "I was sitting on the train reading my paper.

"I heard a load of noise, people saying, 'Get out, get down'!

"I saw an Asian guy run onto the train hotly pursued by three plain-clothes police officers.

"One of them was carrying a black handgun - it looked like an automatic - they pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him."

The eyewitness added the man did not seem to be carrying a weapon or wearing a rucksack like those used in the July 7 suicide bombings or, reportedly, in Thursday's failed attacks.

The shoot-to-kill incident came only hours after UK authorities reportedly pressed British Prime Minister Tony Blair for new sweeping anti-terror powers, including the right to detain a suspect for up to three months without charges, and the right to "shoot-to-kill" in "extremely suspicious situations".

Suspect

Police gave no further details on the circumstances of the shooting, saying the Stockwell situation was "ongoing" and there was no word from the political circles, citing "still ongoing operational situations", according to the BBC.

It was not also clear whether the shooting was related to Thursday's failed blasts or whether police were chasing the man into the Underground or merely suspected him.

But Sky News television reported earlier that the shot man was "a suspected suicide bomber".

Stockwell is one stop south of Oval station, one of three Underground stops that were, together with a double-decker bus, the scenes of apparent would-be suicide attacks Thursday.

An AFP reporter at the scene said the busy street that runs past Stockwell station was sealed off, with traffic diverted through side streets.

Services on the Victoria and Northern lines have been suspended following a request by the police, London Underground said, according to the BBC.

The British broadcaster added ambulances including an air ambulance have been sent to the scene at Stockwell.

Thursday's failed attacks took place two weeks to the day after suicide bombers -- three of them Britons of Pakistani origin -- attacked three Underground trains and a double-decker bus, killing 56 and injuring some 700.

Mosque

Meanwhile, police briefly threw a cordon around a mosque in east London Friday, according to AFP, citing BBC News 24 television.

The East London Mosque, on Whitechapel Road, one of the biggest and most modern in the capital, was surrounded by police officers, some of whom were armed, a woman at the scene told the all-news channel by telephone.

Not long afterwards, it said the police had stood down, as the focus of attention remained on an Underground subway station in south London where the reportedly Asian-looking man was shot by police.