Some thoughts

No casualty figures are in yet but from the in initial reports in so far it seems like these London attack could have been much, much worse. For starters, it was not a biological or chemical attack. There were also no follow-up attacks. Seems to me that it would have been easy for a suicide bomber to detonate himself in one of the crowds which gathered around the sites of the attacks- there were numerous scenes of crowds clustered around fire engines and ambulances. Even one of these types of attacks would have caused massive casualties and also hampered further emergency services activities.

There were also reports of Swindon and Brighton train stations being shut down- one or two actual attacks outside of London could have brought the entire country's transport system to a halt. Also, a bomb planted on the tracks could have caused massive casualties- one of the high speed communter trains coming into London would have had hundreds of passengers on board.

Europhobia is reporting that the areas in which the attacks took place all contained Muslim communities-

Liverpool St/Aldgate East/Moorgate was all the same incident.
- this is near Brick Lane, with a sizable Bangladeshi/Muslim community.

Edgeware Road
- the heart of a major Arab/Muslim community

King's Cross/Russell Square and Woburn Place
- by the King's Cross Estate, with a sizable Bangladeshi/Muslim community, plus the School of Oriental and African Studies, one of the world's leading universities for the study of Islam (amongst others)

It could be that the security measures put in place explain the locations- perhaps the terrorists were, in actual fact, members of these communities. Perhaps they took place there because they did not want to travel any further than was strictly necessary? Perhaps it was easier for them to launch attacks in areas where they would blend in better? Of course, this is purely speculation- and it assumes that they were of Middle Eastern origin. London's a pretty cosmopolitan place though, so I'm not entirely sure how this theory stands up to scrutiny. It also assumes that this was AQ or similar.

In any event, I'm sure that many of you out there could conceive of a plan which would inflict more casualties than are currently being reported. One security expert on the BBC (I believe) said that it was likely that the bombs were concealed in day-packs which are ubiquitous. I've been on the Tube a good few times and there have always been people lugging big, heavy suitcases around. Thankfully, that does not seem to be the case today.

My thoughts are with the families of those who have lost someone today.

Updates as and when I get more news.