Operation Kratos - London Bombings and The de Menezes Shooting

London Bombings and The De Menezes Shooting

After the London Tube and Bus bombings of 7 July 2005, an internal email was sent to specialised police units reminding them of the secret tactics for dealing with suicide bombers. Operation Kratos was first described publicly in an article in The Scotsman on 15 July 2005. Between 21 July and 5 August, Designated Senior Officers were alerted on 11 occasions, with Armed Response Units deployed to 6 of these incidents. On one of these occasions, they opened fire.

In the evening after the attempted 21 July 2005 bombings, Specialist Firearms Officers supporting the search for the bombers were issued with hollow point ammunition. When police linked Hussain Osman and another suspect to a block of flats in Brixton, the block was placed under surveillance. Commander Cressida Dick, who would also act as Gold Commander of the operation, was appointed as Kratos DSO. The firearms team were informed that they faced suicide bombers, that a DSO was in place, and that they might be required to use "unusual tactics".

On the morning of 22 July, surveillance officers believed that a man leaving the flats might have been Osman. In fact the man was Jean Charles de Menezes, who had no connection to the bombers other than his home address. As the firearms team was not at the site (for unknown reasons), one of the watchers followed him onto a bus. His innocent actions were misinterpreted as counter-surveillance measures, and a firearms team was called to intercept him. By the time they had arrived, de Menezes had entered Stockwell tube station and boarded a Tube train. Although no Kratos codeword had been given, the firearms officers believed him to be a suicide bomber. A surveillance officer seized de Menezes in a bear hug, and two plainclothes armed officers fired a total of nine shots, six of which struck his head from distances of 1 to 8 cm. Menezes died instantly.