Britons laid flowers at the sites of the 2005 London suicide bombings and held a nation-wide minute of silence for the 52 victims on Tuesday on the tenth anniversary of the attacks. Prime Minister David Cameron led the tributes by placing a wreath at a memorial in Hyde Park and petals were released from the dome of St Paul's Cathedral during a service there.
The Hyde Park ceremony began at exactly 8:50am (0750 GMT) - the time the first of four home-grown jihadists detonated his device on London's transport system on July 7, 2005. "It's still raw 10 years on," said Mark, a 40-year-old train driver fighting back tears on the plaza outside King's Cross train station, near two of the four blast scenes.
"You see things you don't want to see again. It was horrendous," he said, adding that he was on duty at the time and was involved in rescue operations. Bouquets of flowers were laid in nearby Tavistock Square, on the spot where one of the bombers detonated his device on a red double-decker bus, killing 13 people. "Our precious daughter Shyanu. When heaven took our angel back, they left two broken hearts," read one message left in memory of 30-year-old Shayanuja Parathasangary.
At Russell Square Underground station where a second device was detonated on a train, a tent was erected near the station entrance where mourners could sit and pay a silent tribute. Spectators at the Wimbledon tennis tournament joined in the minute of silence, as did tourists outside St Paul's where families of the victims and survivors had gathered. "Ten years on from the 7/7 London attacks, the threat from terrorism continues to be as real as it is deadly," Cameron said.
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