Londoners mark anniversary of 2005 bombings

July 07, 2010 06:08 pm | Updated 07:06 pm IST - London

The victims of London’s Tube and bus bombings five years ago were remembered in low—key private ceremonies on Wednesday.

The suicide attacks on three Underground trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, left 52 people dead and more than 700 injured.

Suicide bombers Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, detonated their devices within three minutes in the morning rush hour.

The government said that no official commemorations would be held at the request of relatives and survivors. Wreaths would, however, be laid at a memorial to the victims in Hyde Park, which was inaugurated a year ago.

Many survivors and bereaved families will mark the day with private gatherings at the memorial and the sites of the four blasts.

Meanwhile, the woman who became the “face” of the attack has spoken publicly about her ordeal and her remarkable recovery for the first time.

Davinia Douglass, who was photographed clutching a gauze mask to cover her horrific facial burns, praised the “wonderful treatment” she had received to make an incredible recovery, both physical and and mental.

In pictures published Wednesday, the 29—year—old, who got married last year, revealed a face that bore absolutely no scars of the horrific injuries she suffered when a “ball of fire” swept through her Tube carriage.

“I went from being convinced that I would be seriously scarred for life and that my life would be ruined, to being hopeful that the medics who were looking after me would be able to put me back together as I had been before,” she told the Evening Standard.

“Fundamentally I am the same person, except I feel a lot stronger,” she added.

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