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By Katherine Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) - Police shot a man dead at a London underground rail station on Friday during a hunt for bombers who struck two weeks after suicide attacks killed 52 rush-hour commuters.

The latest round of bombs, at Thursday lunchtime, caused chaos but killed no one, in an apparently failed bid to repeat the July 7 attacks.

Commuter Teri Godly told how she had stood next to the suspected suicide bomber on Friday morning before pandemonium erupted as armed police charged in.

"A tall Asian guy, shaved head, slight beard, with a rucksack got in front of me. Shortly after that, as I was about to get onto the train, eight or nine undercover police with walkie talkies and handguns started screaming at everyone to 'get out, get out'," she told Sky News television.

Witnesses spoke of panic as a man of Asian appearance wearing a heavy jacket vaulted over barriers at Stockwell station on Friday as he was chased, tackled then shot.

"I've never seen anything like it in my life. I saw them kill a man basically. I saw them shoot a man five times," witness Mark Whitby told BBC television.

"The other passengers were distraught. It was just mayhem, people were just getting off the Tube ... People running in all directions, looks of horror on their faces, screaming, a lot of screaming from women, absolute mayhem," he added.

Media reports said the man shot was a suspected suicide bomber -- possibly one of the four on the run after Thursday's attacks.

"We can confirm that just after 10 a.m. armed officers entered Stockwell Tube station. A man was challenged by officers and subsequently shot. London Ambulance Service attended the scene. He was pronounced dead at the scene," police said.

Police cordoned off streets around the station and took witnesses away for questioning.

Ben Anderson told of shouting and confusion before the shooting
"People on the tube didn't know whether it was somebody with a gun, shooting, or the police. I didn't hear them identify themselves. I just heard the first shot, lots of screaming, and ran," he told BBC radio.