Thousands affected by Suspension of 24-hour Eurostar Train
By Raza Mumtaz 'Pakistan Times' Executive Editor/UK Bureau Chief

LONDON (UK): Thousands of Eurostar passengers saw their trains to and from London and continental Europe cancelled Friday after a track-side fire in the British capital forced a 24-hour suspension of services.

A company spokesman said the closure, because of the risk of gas cylinders exploding after the blaze, would affect 6,000 people due to leave London on Eurostar services Friday night and 4,500 due to arrive in the city.

About 24,000 people planning to travel Saturday would be hit, with 12,000 heading into and 12,000 heading out of London on 30 services.

Eurostar, which runs high-speed passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel linking London with Paris and Brussels, has imposed the suspension until 1700 GMT Saturday, even though the fire has been put out.

Services Resume

Meanwhile, a report from Brussels says that Eurostar train left Brussels for London at 1359 GMT, resuming a service that was dramatically interrupted by a fire near Clapham.

"Eurostar 9141 left Brussels on time," a Belgian railway official told AFP, adding that full service from the station had been resumed.

Tens of thousands of passengers in London, Brussels and Paris were affected by the cancellation of the high-speed trains through the Channel tunnel after a trackside fire near Waterloo station threatened to explode gas cylinders.

Services were due to resume from Waterloo at 1700 GMT, almost 24 hours after they were halted by the powerful blaze.

Of the Suspected Bomber

Meanwhile, according to another report, one of the six men implicated in an alleged bombing plot that failed told a British court Friday he used a harmless device intended only to protest against Muslim suffering, especially in Iraq, a French news agency reported.

The first of the six to testify in the trial, Muktar Said Ibrahim admitted being "principally responsible" for making the devices used in the alleged suicide plot to blow up commuters on London transport on July 21, 2005.

The incidents came exactly two weeks after a deadly wave of suicide bombings. But the Eritrean-born 29-year-old did not mean to injure anyone with the devices, he insisted at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.

Ibrahim swore on the Holy Koran before giving evidence in the high-profile trial, being held in Britain's highest-security court.

He immediately admitted he was the man on a bus in east London caught on security camera footage apparently detonating a device inside a rucksack.●