[Scotland Yard had informed foreign embassies of the possibility of attacks
just previous to their occurence]

Blasts cause carnage, Blair breaks off summit
Thu Jul 7, 2005 9:49 AM ET
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-07T1\
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By Trevor Datson and Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - Four blasts ripped through London during rush hour on
Thursday morning, killing at least 45 people and disrupting a summit of Group
of Eight leaders in Scotland in attacks Prime Minister Tony Blair called
"barbaric."

British interior minister Charles Clarke called the explosions "terrorist
attacks."

Witnesses saw the top ripped off a double-decker bus near Russell Square close
to King's Cross train terminal, and three more apparently coordinated
explosions caused carnage on packed subway trains as Londoners made their way
to work.

Security sources told Reuters there were fatalities at all four bomb sites,
and Sky Television said at least 45 people had been killed. A further 150 were
seriously wounded, and hospital staff said some were unlikely to survive.

"I was on the bus," said one dazed passenger. "I looked round and the seats
behind me were gone."

"You could see bodies on the road outside," said another eyewitness, Peter
Gordon. "There was smoke everywhere. It was carnage."

President Bush, speaking at the G8 summit, told reporters that "the war on
terror goes on."

"We will not yield to these terrorists, we will find them, we will bring them
to justice," he said.

A previously unknown group, "Secret Group of al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe,"
claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police have so far declined to give a death toll or comment on suggestions
that suicide bombers were involved.

Financial markets tumbled as the scale of the attacks became clear and Blair
told reporters he would return to London from the G8 summit to oversee the
emergency. He planned to return to the talks in Gleneagles later in the day.

The attacks recalled the 2004 train bombings in Madrid blamed on al Qaeda and
left Londoners in shock. The Islamic Human Rights Commission warned London
Muslims to stay at home to avoid any violence aimed at them.

The attacks came a day after a jubilant London was awarded the 2012 Olympic
Games.

"I'm deeply saddened that this should happen at the heart of an Olympic city.
Unfortunately there is no safe haven. No one can say their city is safe," said
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge in Singapore.

Italy's interior minister said all Europe was on alert.

Britain has been key ally of the United States in its war in Iraq, where al
Qaeda is waging a bloody insurgency. The blasts occurred one day after London
was awarded the 2012 Olympics.

DEAD AND WOUNDED

Police said two people were killed at Aldgate East underground station in the
financial center of the city, with a further 90 people wounded. Around 100
wounded people were taken to Royal London Hospital, 10 of them in critical
condition.

London's police chief Ian Blair said there were indications of explosives at
the blast sites.

"We are concerned that this is a co-ordinated attack," he told Sky television.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, speaking in Singapore, said suicide bombers may
have been involved.

"I wish to speak to you directly -- to those who came to London today to take
lives," he said. "I know that you personally do not fear to give your own life
in exchange for taking others, which is why you are so dangerous."

People were seen streaming out of one underground station covered with blood
and soot. Passengers were evacuated from stations across the capital, many in
shock and with their clothes ripped to shreds, witnesses said.

The city's streets rapidly emptied and financial markets plummeted as it
became increasingly apparent that the blasts were an attack, and not a power
surge on the underground train system as had first been reported.

Security experts said the blasts bore all the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

"If what we are looking at is a simultaneous bombing, and it does look like
that, it would very certainly fit the classic al Qaeda methodology which
centers precisely on that: multi-seated hits on transport and infrastructural
targets," said Shane Brighton, intelligence expert at the Royal United
Services Institute for Defense.

On the currency market, the safe-haven Swiss franc hit a six-week high against
sterling and rose more than 1 percent against the dollar following the
explosions.

"The market is showing a textbook reaction, buying safe-haven currencies like
the Swiss franc and euro and away from the dollar," said Marios Maratheftis,
currency strategist at Standard Chartered.

Oil prices initially fell three percent before recovering and London's FTSE
stock exchange lost two percent.

(Additional reporting by London bureau)
*******

U.S. official 43 believed dead in London blasts
Thu Jul 7, 2005 10:02 AM ET


http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-07T1\
40235Z_01_N07280702_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SECURITY-BRITAIN-TOLL-DC.XMLWASHINGTON
(Reuters) - More than 40 people were believed to have been killedin the bomb
blasts that rocked London, a U.S. official said on Thursday .The death toll of
43 was given during a morning conference call among variousU.S. government
agencies, the official said.© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserve****Unknown group
says London attacks by Qaeda-reportsThu Jul 7, 2005 9:38 AM
EThttp://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-07\
T133836Z_01_N07298424_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SECURITY-BRITAIN-CLAIM-DC.XMLLONDON
(Reuters) - A previously unknown group claimed responsibility in thename of al
Qaeda for a series of deadly blasts in London, two newsorganizations reported on
Thursday.The "Secret Group of al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe" claimed responsibility
forthe attack in a Web site posting and warned Italy and Denmark to
withdrawtheir troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Italian news agency ANSA
andal-Quds al-Arabi newspaper said.The claim, also sent by email to the
London-based daily, could not be verifiedand did not appear on any of the main
Web sites normally used by al Qaeda."Heroic fighters of the Arab nation, it is
time for revenge against thecrusader and Zionist British government, in response
to the massacre carriedout by Great Britain in Iraq and Afghanistan," ANSA
quoted the message assaying on a site it named as "el qal3ah.com.""Our
mujahideen have carried out a blessed invasion in London and here isBritain now
burning with fear and terror... We have repeatedly warned Britainand have kept
our promise."It said the attacks took a long time to plan and required huge
efforts inorder to ensure their success."We are still warning the governments of
Denmark and Italy that they willreceive the same punishment if they do not pull
out their troops from Iraq andAfghanistan," said the statement
provided in Arabic to Reuters by al-Qudsal-Arabi newspaper.The overall casualty
toll in the London blasts was unclear. CNN said 10 peoplewere killed in an
explosion at King's Cross station, and police said twopeople were killed in a
blast at Aldgate East underground station.Emails sent by shadowy militant groups
claiming responsibility for attacks inEurope have in the past proved to be
unsubstantiated.After the 2004 Madrid bombings a group claiming links to al
Qaeda, the AbuHafs al-Masri Brigades, sent al-Quds al-Arabi an email claiming
responsibilityfor the blasts which had not been officially linked to them.