The world recoiled in shock on Thursday after bombs tore through London's transport system killing at least 33 people in a coordinated rush-hour attack. Countries in Europe and the United States stepped up security after the blasts and vowed to hunt down the militants who caused carnage in Britain, the closest US ally, host to the G8 rich nations' meeting and EU president.
Messages of sympathy and condolences poured in from European and Middle Eastern nations, particularly those whose civilian populations had been targetted by militants, branding the attacks barbaric, repulsive and heinous.
"We Spaniards know well the suffering that the British people are going through today," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said, referring to train bombs in Madrid which killed 191 people last year. "We unite with their grief as they and so many other people united with ours."
London Mayor Ken Livingstone called the attacks "mass murder", Blair said they were "barbaric" and Queen Elizabeth referred to "the dreadful events in London".
US President George W. Bush stood side by side with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the G8 summit meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, to say world leaders reacted resolutely.
"Their resolve is as strong as my resolve," Bush said. "We will find them (the perpetrators). We will bring them to justice. And at the same time we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate."
Iran and Syria, both on Washington's list of states sponsoring terrorism, joined an unbroken chorus of condemnation, as did the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Lebanon's Shi'ite Muslim Hizbollah guerrillas.
SECURITY TIGHTENED:
European transport systems tightened security.
"There is (heightened alert) in all of Europe," Italian Interior Minister Guiseppe Pisanu said. "As the violence breaks out again one must keep one's nerves steady and face it, with the force of law and with the rules of democracy."
Bush directed US security authorities to be extra vigilant. "I have been in contact with the Homeland Security folks," the president said. There was condemnation and solidarity for the victims, the British government and its citizens, from statesmen, religious leaders and ordinary people from around the globe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the bombings were "inhuman crimes", Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern called them "a black mark on society" and Pope Benedict deplored "these barbaric acts against humanity."
"Lebanon, which has been the victim of violence for years, shares with the British their pain," said Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.
The Olympic Committee, which had delighted London by awarding it the 2012 Games, expressed grief. "I'm deeply saddened that this should happen at the heart of an Olympic city," IOC President Jacques Rogge said. "Unfortunately there is no safe haven. No one can say their city is safe."
Echoing the views of Bush and his allies, Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the bombs "underline the need for the international community and members of the Alliance to remain united in the fight against terrorism."
MIDDLE EAST SYMPATHY:
The bombs drew shock and sympathy from Middle Eastern capitals, some of them all too familiar with street bloodshed.
"We've been experiencing terrorism for 30 years," said Samira Murr, a Lebanese teacher in her 50s, in Beirut. "It's like the Madrid bombings, like the 9/11 attacks. We feel we are not safe anywhere in the world any more."
"It is a heinous act," Saudi Arabia's Social Affairs Minister Abdulmohsen Al-Akkas said. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad condemned "these detested acts."
Arabic satellite channels such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya aired live footage of the scenes of the bombings that hit a bus and underground trains, as did Lebanese and Israeli media. "We condemn with the strongest possible terms these explosions, and convey our sincere condolences to the British people and government," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom sought to compare the attacks with his country's struggle against Palestinian militants who have used suicide bombings against civilians. "This attack shows us once again that terrorism is not Israel's problem only," he said.
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, responsible for many suicide attacks on Israelis, condemned the London bombings. "Targeting civilians in their transport means and lives is denounced and rejected," Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of the group's political bureau told Reuters in Damascus by telephone.
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