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LONDON - Near simultaneous explosions rocked the London subway and tore open a double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday, causing at least two deaths and dozens of injuries in what Prime Minister Tony Blair said was a "barbaric" terrorist attack timed to disrupt the Group of Eight summit.

The explosions came a day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and as the G-8 summit was getting under way in Scotland.

"We are concerned that this is a coordinated attack. We are aware that one of the sites does contain indications of explosives," London police chief Sir Ian Blair said on Sky News.

He said authorities had not received any warning. "We have been at a very high state of alert. Of course if there had been any kind of specific warnings we would have dealt with it," he said.

Police confirmed two deaths and said there were at least six explosions.

Prime Minister Blair said he was leaving the G-8 summit for the day to return to London, while the other leaders continued the meeting.

Buses destroyed
Police confirmed an explosion destroyed a double-decker bus at Russell Square in central London, and Dow Jones Newswires said police reported explosions on at least two other buses.

“I was on the bus,” said a dazed passenger on one of the buses that was hit. “I looked round and the seats behind me were gone.”

A witness at the Russell Square blast said the entire top deck of that bus was destroyed.

"I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang, I turned round and half the double decker bus was in the air," Belinda Seabrook told Press Association, the British news agency.

She said the bus was packed with people. "It was a massive explosion and there were papers and half a bus flying through the air," she said.

'Walking wounded'
Police said explosions were also reported at the Aldgate subway station near the Liverpool Street railway terminal; Edgware Road and King's Cross station in north London; and Old Street station in the financial district.

Police sealed off large areas around other underground and mainline rail stations. Firemen donned chemical protection suits before rushing into stations.

A doctor at Aldgate said at least 90 people were wounded at that location alone. At least two people were confirmed killed at that station.

"There are some walking wounded at Aldgate," said a spokesman for City of London police, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are not sure of the scale of the incident. Reports are still coming in."

Bradley Anderson, a subway passenger, told Sky News that "there was some kind of explosion" as his train reached the Edgware Road station in northeast London. "Everything went black and we collided into some kind of oncoming train," Anderson said.

Simon Corvett, who was on an eastbound train from Edgware Road station, said that "all of sudden there was this massive huge bang."

"It was absolutely deafening and all the windows shattered," he said. "There were just loads of people screaming and the carriages filled with smoke. You could see the carriage opposite was completely gutted. There were some people in real trouble."

A Web site posting said the blasts were the work of a group calling itself the "Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe."

No such group had previously been reported and the claim could not be verified. The claim did not appear on any of the Web sites normally used by al-Qaida.