(Via Information Clearinghouse) This story, as reported, is incredible. According to This is Kent—

Police shot dead a suspected suicide bomber at Stockwell tube station in South London today, Scotland Yard has confirmed.
....

There were unconfirmed reports that police believe the man who was shot was one of the attackers involved in yesterday's incidents.
....

Eyewitnesses said a group of 10-15 police officers chased the young Asian man onto a train and then drilled five shots into him at pointblank range.

Tube passenger Mark Whitby said: "I saw the man shot dead. The police fired about five shots into him.

"The man looked like a cornered rabbit. They can only have been two or three feet behind him.

"He was pushed onto the floor and held down and the nearest police officer unloaded five shots into him."

Was this due to "loss of self-control"? If the man was indeed one of yesterday's would-be suicide bombers, the police have just destroyed an important source of information. Expect the revised accounts from Scotland Yard shortly.

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Thames Valley Police are stating that someone has attempted to burn down the home of one of the suicide bombers from the first attack. Was this an attempt to destroy evidence or merely revenge?

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6:35 pm

All right. I warned you to expect a revised account from Scotland Yard. It was immediately clear that shooting a man in cold blood was spectacularly stupid, illegal, loathsome and anything else you care to call it, but reality has once again exceeded my strained imagination.

From Reuters—

A man shot dead by police at a London Underground station on Friday was not one of the four bombers who tried to attack the city's transport system on Thursday, Sky Television reported citing security sources.

"This is what I am picking up from security sources that the man who was shot this (Friday) morning at Stockwell tube wasn't one of those four bombers that police are hunting," Sky reporter Martin Brunt said.

A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said only: "the gentleman shot at Stockwell today has yet to be identified, so it would be impossible to link him to anything at this stage."
....

Police said the shooting was part of an operation directly linked to an "anti-terrorist" probe.

Earlier we had this from the police—

The man shot was "directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation," Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair told a news conference. "The man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions."

The cover-up and excuses begin.

And if that's not enough, there's this from the Scotsman—

The driver of the London Underground train involved in the latest terrorist scare was chased by armed police and had a gun held to his head as he tried to escape the scene of today's shooting, union officials have claimed.

The driver started running along an underground tunnel as passengers were fleeing from Stockwell Tube station following the shooting of a suspect.

He was followed by police who briefly held a gun to his head, according to officials from the train drivers' union Aslef.

The tube driver is lucky he made it out alive.

Advice: If you're dark-skinned, cancel your travel plans to Britain.

Follow-up post
A law professor comments on the murder by London police (7/26/05)

Related post
Don't stop, get shot: Best to just stay home (7/25/05)