London Unveils Memorial to July 7 Victims
Four Years After Bombs Struck Transit System, 52 Lives Are Remembered at Dedication of Striking Hyde Park Spires
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Saba Mozakka, 28, whose mother was killed in the July 7, 2005 bombings, says helping to make the Hyde Park monument a reality was a difficult but necessary task for "52 very much loved and missed people." Her mother Behnaz, a 47-year-old, biomedical officer, was commuting to work at London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital when she was killed while traveling on a Piccadilly line tube. (AP Photo/Fiona Hanson/PA)
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A view of the new memorial in Hyde Park commemorating the 52 people in the London terror attacks on July 7, 2005. Those killed in the bombings have been commemorated by 52 stainless steel columns, or stelae, 11.5 feet tall, erected in London's Hyde Park. (AP Photo/Fiona Hanson/PA)
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Prince Charles looks at the July 7, 2005 London Bombing Memorial during its dedication in Hyde Park on Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (AP/J. Selwyn, Evening Standard/PA)
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Photo Essay London Unveils July 7 Memorial Victims of the 2005 terror attacks are remembered at dedication ceremony.
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Photo Essay London Bombings Nearly simultaneous rush-hour explosions on London's mass transit system.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, London Mayor Boris Johnson and the Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall attended the memorial service along with families of the victims. The stainless steel columns stand 11.5 feet tall in central London's Hyde Park.
Former Mayor Ken Livingstone, who was in office at the time of the attacks by four suicide bombers on three subway trains and a bus, praised the design of the memorial.
"I think it's just exactly right. Often, it's very difficult to do something like this and get it right," he said.
The daughter of a woman who died in the bomb attacks on London's transit system says a memorial to the victims is "truly incredible."
Saba Mozakka lost her 48-year-old mother, Behnaz, when a suicide bomber set off an explosion on her Piccadilly Line Tube train near King's Cross station.
She said Monday that the memorial "reflects the importance of the people commemorated."
Britain's main opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron, who attended the memorial, said some of the hundreds of wounded and the families of those killed had helped plan the statues.
As Londoners gathered for the ceremony, British lawmakers warned that the city's subway and bus network remain extremely vulnerable to attack by terrorists.
The Home Affairs Select Committee said in a report published Tuesday that the city's famous Tube and bus network remain an iconic target.
Transport for London, which operates public transport in Britain's capital, said it has carried out major improvements to security and upgraded communications systems for emergency staff.
"We must never underestimate the continued grave threat the U.K. faces from terrorist attack," committee chairman Keith Vaz said in a statement. "There is no doubt that there are sophisticated groups out there focused on doing us harm."
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