The man shot dead by police at Stockwell Underground station yesterday morning had nothing to do with Thursday’s abortive London bomb attacks, Scotland Yard said tonight.

According to witnesses, the man was shot five times at close range after being chased onto a Northern Line train at the South London station at around 10am. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said later that the man was directly connected to the bungled bombings of three Tube trains and a London bus the day before.

The Met said in a statement this afternoon: “We believe we now know the identity of the man shot at Stockwell Underground station by police on Friday 22nd July 2005, although he is still subject to formal identification.

”We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday 21st July 2005. For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets.

”The man emerged from a block of flats in the Stockwell area that were under police surveillance as part of the investigation into the incidents on
Thursday 21st July. He was then followed by surveillance officers to the Underground station. His clothing and behaviour added to their suspicions.

”The circumstances that led to the man's death are being investigated by officers from the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] Directorate of Professional Standards, and will be referred to the IPCC [Independent Police Complaints Commission] in due course.”

The shooting had been graphically described by a series of witnesses. One passenger on the train, Mark Whitby, said shortly afterwards: "As the man got on the train I looked at his face. He looked from left to right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit, like a cornered fox. He looked absolutely petrified.

"He sort of tripped but they were hotly pursuing him and couldn't have been more than two or three feet behind him at this time. They unloaded five shots into him. I saw it. He's dead, five shots, he's dead."

The Met yesterday published CCTV images of the four suspected suicide bombers, whose bombs failed to properly detonate at Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd’s Bush stations and on a No 26 bus passing through Bethnal Green. The attacks came two weeks to the day after four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters in rush-hour attacks on three Tube trains and another double-decker bus.

Two men were arrested yesterday in Stockwell in connection with the attacks and are being held at the high-security Paddington Green police station – although their precise connection with the bombings is not clear.

The armed branches of the Metropolitan Police, which is believed to have been reinforced with special forces, has recently been given revised rules of engagement to deal with the threat of suicide bombers, which imply the immediate use of lethal force if the lives of civilians or officers are under threat.

The Muslim Council of Britain expressed concern yesterday that there appeared to be a “shoot-to-kill” policy that needed explaining – and its calls for a full investigation will be backed up by today’s news that the man shot in Stockwell had nothing to do with Thursday’s terrorist attack.

The IPCC, the police watchdog, has already announced that there will be an independent investigation into the shooting. Nick Hardwick, IPCC chairman, said the commission would use its own investigators to carry out the inquiry.

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