What the papers said

Papers across the world expressed their revulsion at the London bombings. Niamh Hennessy reports.

THE DAILY MIRROR carried a series of pictures of survivors in a wraparound front and back page and, like many papers, featured Tony Blair’s resolute words: “We will not be terrorised”. Inside were 33 pages of coverage on the disaster. The paper ran many images of inside the Tube stations and asked the question: “Were the bombers British?”

THE SUN led with the headline: “Our spirit will never be broken”, over one of the day’s most shocking images, the double-decker bus in Tavistock Square which was ripped open by the blast. Inside, it ran two pages, side-by-side of David Beckham celebrating London’s successful bid for the Olympic Games under the headline ‘From Joy’ to the headline on the opposite page ‘To Terror’, supported by images of the explosions. It also described the “56 minutes of hell”, which descended on the capital starting at 8:51am with the Aldgate bomb and ending with the deadly bus attack at 9:47am. Its leader column read: “In the name of New York, Washington, Bali, Nairobi, Madrid and now London, we shall have vengeance and justice.”

THE DAILY EXPRESS quoted a passenger who claimed to have seen an “olive-skinned” man fiddling with a bag moments before the blast. The front page declared 75 people had been killed and 743 were injured. It devoted almost 34 pages of coverage to the disaster inside.

THE GUARDIAN, in its leader column, agreed with Tony Blair’s determination to stand up to the terrorists saying: “Mr Blair was right to insist that our determination to defend our values and our way of life should be indomitable.” It added: “It means keen policing and long-term intelligence work. But it also involves trying to understand why people are drawn to commit such infamous and evil deeds, not merely tightening security to prevent them from happening again.”

THE FINANCIAL TIMES covered the effect of the attacks on shares and the city with the headline: “Biggest fall in shares since the Iraq war.” Another headline on the same page provided optimism for the long term which read: “Economy likely to shrug off effect on sentiment.”

LE MONDE described how a police investigation was in hand to try to find the authors of the attacks. The French paper covered all details of the attacks and spoke of how Scotland Yard confirmed that “the attacks carry all the al-Qaida signs”.

THE NEW YORK TIMES reported that federal officials elevated the alert for the nation’s rail, subway and bus systems on Thursday, prompting more police patrols and inspections of packages across the country.

THE ARAB NEWS spoke of how “Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the attacks and called on the international community to step up its efforts to combat terrorism”. They also described how Middle Eastern leaders were among the first to send messages of support, sympathy and solidarity to Britain.

HA’ARETZ, Israel’s daily newspaper, urged readers “not to equate UK attacks with terror here”. They led with the story that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instructed his cabinet not to make any comments on yesterday’s terror attacks in London and to refrain from making statements that would equate the terror in Britain with that in Israel.

THE AUSTRALIAN led with the story that “a massive manhunt is underway in Britain for the terrorists behind yesterday’s deadly attacks in London amid claims a suicide bomber was seen on board the bus that was ripped apart by a bomb”.

The CAPE ARGUS in South Africa described how British investigators, skilled at anti-terror work from decades of IRA bombings are at the beginning of the daunting task of finding those behind the bus and underground explosions.