Death and destruction hit London in hour of terror

BOMBERS left a trail of carnage across central London yesterday as the capital became the front line in the war against terror.

Four bombs left people dead, dying and horribly maimed in a "barbaric" series of coordinated no-warning attacks on the city's transport network.

Last night the toll looked set to rise as one police source indicated that 41 people had perished and 95 were seriously injured.

Scotland Yard officially confirmed that at least 37 people were killed and there were 700 casualties, 300 of whom were taken to hospital by ambulance.

Death and destruction rolled across central London in 60 terrifying minutes as world leaders sat down to business in Scotland at the G8 summit.

Seven people died in the first blast at 8.51am in a Tube tunnel 100 yards from Liverpool St Station; 21 died in a blast at 8.56am between King's Cross and Russell Square; and seven died at Edgware Rd station in an explosion at 9.17am involving three trains.

Exactly 30 minutes after the Edgware Road blast, a bomb tore the roof off a double decker bus packed with commuters.

Scotland Yard said two people were confirmed dead in the bus blast but eyewitnesses spoke of seeing more bodies.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair learned of the devastation minutes after holding a joint news conference with his partner in the war on terror, US President George W Bush.

After staging a show of unity with all those leaders present at the summit, he flew back to London to take charge of the crisis.

Last night Mr Blair pledged that Britain would not be intimidated by the terrorists and promised intense police and security service action to bring the bombers to justice.

In a televised statement recorded in Downing St, Mr Blair said: "It is through terrorism that the people that have committed these terrible acts express their values and it is right at this moment that we demonstrate ours.

"I think we all know what they are trying to do.

"They are trying to use the slaughter of innocent people to cow us, to frighten us out of doing the things that we want to do, trying to stop us from going about our business as normal, as we are entitled to do and they should not and they must not succeed.

"When they try to intimidate us, we will not be intimidated. When they seek to change our country or our way of life by these methods, we will not be changed."

A group calling itself the Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaida of Jihad Organisation in Europe claimed responsibility for the attacks on an Islamic website.

The message said: "O nation of Islam and nation of Arabism: Rejoice for it is time to take revenge from the British Zionist Crusader Government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The heroic mujahidin have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror, and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters."

The attack echoed the al-Qaida assault on Madrid in 2004 in which almost 200 people died.

London was thrown into chaos in the wake of the blasts with shops, banks and offices closing and thousands of people left stranded on the streets as mainline stations were shut and Tube and bus services cancelled.

The blasts were condemned by all G8 leaders as "barbaric".

The queen spoke of her shock at the "dreadful events in London this morning".

But Respect MP George Galloway said Londoners had "paid the price" for Tony Blair's decision to go to war.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said last night that the London bombings had "the hallmarks of an al-Qaida-related attack".