Enlarge imageLONDON (Reuters) - Central London was hit on Thursday morning by "about six" blasts and there are many casualties, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said.
"We think there are about six explosions. There are many casualties," he told BBC Television.
Police and transport officials had earlier said a number of people were killed in a series of explosions on London’s transport system at rush hour, causing chaos in the capital, police and transport officials said.
Several blasts hit the underground network and police said there had been at least three explosions on buses in the city.
A source at the Metronet consortium that runs part of the capital’s underground network said "there were three explosions and there have been some fatalities".
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Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the blasts had caused "terrible injuries".
The causes of the incidents, a day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and as leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations met in Scotland, were unknown but police said many of the city’s underground stations were affected.
"It is too too early to state what has happened," a London police spokesman said. "I cannot comment on reports of bombs, but we have had multi-reports of explosions around London."
People were seen streaming out of one underground station covered in blood and soot. Passengers were evacuated from stations across the capital, many in shock and with their clothes ripped to shreds, witnesses said.
The entire system was shut down and major thoroughfares were blocked off by police and ambulance services.
One bus was blown up in Tavistock Square in central London, a policeman told Reuters.
"There have been some casualties and this has been declared as a major incident," said a spokeswoman for London’s Metropolitan Police.
Emergency services rushed to the Aldgate East underground station where police reported the first incident at 8:59 a.m. local time (0759 GMT).
"There were people streaming out of Aldgate station covered in blood," said Kate Heywood, 27, on her way to work.
"There are shards of glass there, it is chaos," she added.
A Reuters correspondent at Oxford Circus station, at the heart of the underground system, heard an announcement over the public-address system saying: "A power outage has occurred London-wide. All train services are suspended."
A station official said: "All the power has gone down. I don’t know when it’ll come back."
Police sealed off large areas around other underground and mainline rail stations. Firemen donned chemical protection suits before rushing into stations.
Half a dozen people dishevelled and with soot-blackened faces sat on the floor at Russell Square underground station or stood in shock as police cordoned off the area and ambulances crews raced in, one witness said.
The Great Eastern Hotel, which was hosting a conference on the Israeli economy, was evacuated. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to attend the conference but had not arrived.
Stocks dived and demand for government bonds and safe-haven currencies soared on Thursday after the reports of the incidents.
