18-year-old charged with attempted murder for London subway bombing

LONDON — British police on Friday charged an 18-year-old man with attempted murder and causing an explosion over last week’s terror attack on the London subway.

The Metropolitan Police force said Ahmed Hassan will appear in court later, accused of planting the bomb at Parsons Green station a week ago.

Hassan is accused of attempting to “murder persons traveling on a District Line train” on September 15, and of using a chemical compound known as TATP to cause an explosion likely to endanger life, police said.

Hassan, who is reported to be from Iraq, was arrested Saturday at the port of Dover, departure point for ferries to France.

After his arrest, police searched the suburban home of a couple who had fostered more than 200 children, including refugees from the Middle East.

Thirty people were injured when the homemade bomb — hidden in a plastic bucket that was place in a plastic supermarket bag — partly detonated at the height of the morning rush hour.

The attack sparked a huge hunt for the perpetrators and prompted officials to briefly raise the national terrorism threat to the highest level, “critical.”

Earlier on Friday, London police chief Cressida Dick said the bomb set off on a packed rush-hour tube train was “very, very dangerous” and had been packed with shrapnel.

The explosion at Parsons Green station in south-west London, was Britain’s fifth terror attack in six months, and was claimed by the Islamic State terror group.

“Thank goodness nobody was killed at Parsons Green. It must have been absolutely horrific for the people in the train. As you know, many people suffered injuries,” Dick told LBC radio.

“That was a very, very dangerous bomb. It partially detonated. It had a large quantity of explosive and it was packed with shrapnel.”

Three other male suspects remain in custody over the attack, but haven’t been charged.