By Tom Hundley,Chicago Tribune

LONDON – As usual for the morning rush hour, the London Underground was packed with commuters Friday, just as it was exactly a year ago when four British Muslims boarded three trains and a bus to blow up themselves and 52 others.

The terror attack, the worst in London’s history, has not changed the essential rhythms or habits of the city, but it has left deep scars.

On Friday, London and the rest of Britain marked the anniversary with a series of low-key remembrances, some public, some very private.

It began a little before 8 a.m. outside Kings Cross station, when commuters began leaving bouquets of flowers on the sidewalk. Later, about 8:50, the time when three of the bombs went off almost simultaneously on Underground trains, London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Tessa Jowell, a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Cabinet, laid a wreath outside the station.

“More than anything, I am proud of Londoners for the way they coped one year ago,” the mayor said.

As the bells of St. Paul’s Cathedral tolled, Livingstone and other dignitaries then made the short trip to Tavistock Square where the fourth suicide bomber detonated a knapsack packed with explosives on a red double-decker bus, and where there would be another remembrance service.

Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke at a private ceremony at Fire Brigade headquarters: “This is a time when our country unites across all races, religions and divides and stands in solidarity with all those who have suffered so much, in sympathy with them and in defense of the values which we share,” Blair said.

What most stunned the nation about the attack was that the four bombers were all British citizens. Three were of Pakistani descent, and the fourth was a Jamaica-born convert to Islam.

In a video posted on the Internet on Friday, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s second-in-command, said two of the bombers – Shahzad Tanweer and ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan – spent time at an al-Qaida camp.

This came a day after Al-Jazeera television aired a videotape of Tanweer in which the 22-year-old university dropout vowed that his suicide attack “is only the beginning of a string of attacks that will continue and become stronger.”

Ian Blair, the head of the Metropolitan Police, also warned that more attacks are inevitable.

“I think there will be further attacks; in fact, I know there will be further attacks,” Blair told the British Broadcasting Corp. “We are doing all we can to stop those – we have stopped three already – (but) no matter how dreadful the terrorists are, it is infinitesimal compared to the strength of Londoners.”

Later Friday, memorial plaques were unveiled at each of the sites where the bombers struck.

At noon, the entire city observed two minutes of silence. In fashionable Knightsbridge, shoppers at Harrods department store stood in the aisles with heads bowed. At Wimbledon, where the British Open tennis championships are under way, play came to a halt.

In the streets of the city’s financial district, men in pinstriped suits paused on the sidewalk, while outside the Edgware Road and Kings Cross tube stations, hundreds gathered to observe the moment of silence.

Throughout the day, thousands of Londoners and visitors made their way to Regent’s Park, where the public was invited to lay purple carnations in a vast floral tribute to the victims of July 7.

Among those who came was Chris Morris, a 25-year-old cinema sound engineer, who said he had just moved from the city when the attack took place a year ago.

“I felt quite disheartened that I wasn’t here. I didn’t feel right being away. So I am here today to show my respect,” he said.

“The thing about London is that everyone is different – different religions, different cultures – but we didn’t let differences get to us. We’ve just carried on,” he said.

The day ended with simple ceremony in Regent’s Park attended by about 1,000 people. There was poetry and song and, finally, a reading of the names of the 52 who lost their lives.

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