As the dust settles, more and more of the details become clearer. The BBC have a good summary of three tube station bombs and the bus bomb (thanks for link to perfect.co.uk). The three tube bombings were on the Picadilly line between Kings Cross and Russell Square, at Edgware Road station, and in a tunnel at 100 metres from Liverpool Street. The bus was in Woburn Place.
The Independent also has a good summary, as does the Financial Times.
Updated 16:15 UK time
Interestingly one of the ‘strange ingredients’ has just been explained: the sudden power surge story. Neil McIntosh at Guardian blog gives the story behind the facts from London Tube boss Tim O’Toole:
Tube boss Tim O’Toole says the sudden succession of blasts caused the earlier “power surge” rumours – the tube control room thought that was the only thing that could cause such a co-ordinated set of failures across the network. In fact, the tube’s power supply is intact – they could run a full service now, although that’s not likely to happen for some time yet. He also says he’s enormously proud of his staff, who “did a difficult job and did it well”.
OK so the bus bomb being in Woburn Place maybe sorts out the confusion about how many bus bombs, since it seems there was double counting of bus bombs in Russell Sq, Tavistock Sq, and Woburn Place, which of are all beside each other.
One other thing — on the map, what stands out as not fitting the pattern is Edgeware Road. There is no cluster there. There’s a City cluster and a Bloomsbury cluster. Many interpretations of course — that one there was seen as enough, or that it’s the distraction bombing to disguise a pattern. Or that it fits a broader Circle Line pattern. Who knows.