King's Cross ceremony to mark 7/7 anniversary

The ceremony, commemorating the 52 innocent people who were killed in the attacks, will be held at King's Cross station next month. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, Mayor Ken Livingstone and Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy will attend.

The Government will also arrange for survivors and family members to visit the Tube stations involved in the attacks and the Tavistock Square site of the bus bomb. Private gatherings will also be organised for relatives and survivors who wish to meet.

Ms Jowell said the events would strike a suitable balance between public and private remembrance.

"A formal act of remembrance at King's Cross will give the country the chance to remember and pay their respects... The families and survivors have chosen to mark the second-anniversary of the atrocities privately, to reflect on the consequences of that day either alone, with family or with each other."

Mr Livingstone said: "London will never forget the terrible events of 7July 2005 and the 52 innocent people who lost their lives.

"In paying our respects, Londoners will continue to demonstrate the tremendous resilience and strength they displayed in the aftermath of the bombings and show the world that this city will not be divided."

Mr Hendy said the anniversary would be an opportunity to pay tribute-to the "heroic acts" of staff, passengers and the emergency services. He added: "It is an honour to represent London's transport staff and to pay respects on their behalf."

One of the explosions occurred on a Tube train between Liverpool Street and Aldgate, another between King's Cross and Russell Square and the third outside Edgware Road station. A fourth device was detonated on a bus in Tavistock Square.

As well as the four suicide bombers, 52 people died, half of them on the Russell Square train, six at Edgware Road, seven on the Liverpool Street

Tube and 13 on the Tavistock Square bus. Nearly 800 people were injured.

Last year's anniversary was marked by a high-profile ceremony in Regent's Park at which flowers were laid and poems read by bereaved relatives. There was also a national two-minute silence.

The Government decided on no silence this year because this form of commemoration should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

Before last year, the only other occasion a national silence was staged to commemorate an anniversary was 11 September 2002, a year after the 9/11 attacks in New York.

The families themselves have also expressed a desire for this year's events to be more low-key and the next high-profile commemoration is likely to be several years away when a permanent memorial to the victims is unveiled in Hyde Park.