Manhunt

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the country would not be intimidated by terrorists and he vowed that the culprits would be brought to justice.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said all efforts were being concentrated on catching the bombers to stop them striking again.

"The number one purpose today is to identify the perpetrators and arrest them because there is obviously a danger if there is a group that has committed these attacks not brought to justice and therefore able to continue thinking about carrying out further attacks," Mr Clarke said.

He said the Government was taking seriously a claim on a website from an al Qaida group that it was responsible.

Senior police officers refused to rule out the possibility that Britain had been subjected to its first suicide bombing after the series of co-ordinated no-warning strikes in the centre of the city.

A passenger on a double decker bus ripped apart in one of the four blasts said he saw an "extremely agitated" man rummaging in a bag just seconds before the explosion.

Scotland Yard put the confirmed death toll at 37, but that looked set to rise, with 95 seriously injured among the 300 casualties taken to hospital.

Police sources said more than 40 people had died, and Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that the death toll was 52.

The largest atrocity in peacetime London began at 8.51am yesterday, when seven people died following the first blast in a Tube tunnel 100 yards from Liverpool Street Station.

At 8.56am, a blast in a tunnel between Kings Cross and Russell Square left 21 people dead.

At 9.17am, seven people died after an explosion ripped through a tunnel wall at Edgware Road station, damaging three trains.

At 9.47am, a blast tore the roof off of a red number 30 double-decker bus packed with commuters forced above ground after the Tube network had been shut down.

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

The Queen was today visiting people caught up in the bomb tragedies. Transport in London returned to near normal, but many workers decided to take the day off.

Tubes and trains heading for the capital in the morning rush-hour were far less busy than usual.

Double gold medal winner Dame Kelly Holmes insisted terrorism must not be allowed to cast a shadow over the 2012 Olympics in London.

She said: "However hard the terrorists try, we will never let something like this stop us from staging the Olympics."

:: Prayers for bomb victims

PRAYERS will be said today for the victims of the London bombings when the Church of England's governing body, the General Synod, meets in York.

Assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia and the ordination of women bishops are among the subjects to be discussed during the July Group of Sessions which will run until Tuesday, July 12.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, yesterday spoke of his horror and grief following the bomb blasts in London.

Speaking while on an interfaith visit to West Yorkshire, Dr Williams said: "All those caught up in this tragedy - and that includes of course the emergency services whose selfless dedication and commitment is so vital at times like this - all are in my own prayers and in the prayers of a great many people. I have spent this morning with Muslim colleagues and friends in West Yorkshire; and we were all as one in our condemnation of this evil and in our shared sense of care and compassion for those affected in whatever way.

"Such solidarity and common purpose is vital for us all at this time of pain and sorrow and anger.

"We in the faith communities will have to continue to stand and work together for the well-being of our nation and for our shared understanding of the life that God calls us to. I hope that we shall all keep that vision alive at this deeply sad and testing time."

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks also described the attacks as evil and said prayers were being said for all those affected.

The Pope said he was "deeply saddened" by the bomb blasts in a message sent to Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Updated: 10:13 Friday, July 08, 2005