London's Second Wave

By J.F.O. McAllister

For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy," Scotland Yard said in an apology late last week after London police pumped five bullets at point-blank range into a suspected terrorist who turned out to be innocent. The Brazilian had been wearing an unusually heavy coat for summer when plainclothes cops chased him onto a train and revealed previously secret "shoot to kill" guidelines for dealing with suicide bombers. The incident occurred the day after four bombs went off almost simultaneously on Underground trains and a bus in a chilling echo of the blasts that killed 56 people two weeks ago. But this time only the detonators blew up. One theory is that the bombs came from the same batch of home-brewed explosive used on July 7, which can degrade quickly.

With all four suspects apparently alive and their images captured on surveillance video, investigators launched a massive manhunt. The British last week were pursuing Haroon Rashid Aswat, a native Brit whom they consider "a central figure" in their investigation of the London blasts, although U.S. intelligence is uncertain about his role, a senior U.S. law-enforcement official says. The bombings, meanwhile, prompted New York City officials to institute random searches of subway riders' bags. "We are all wondering," says the U.S. official after a meeting with British agents. "There were four. Now eight. Are there 12?" --By J.F.O. McAllister. With reporting by Brian Bennett and Adam Zagorin

With reporting by Brian Bennett, Adam Zagorin