Three bomb blasts struck the London subway and one tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday. Reports estimate at least 45 are dead and 1000 wounded.
Prime Minister Tony Blair called the terror attacks "barbaric" and said, "We shall prevail and they shall not."
A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" posted a claim of responsibility for the blasts, saying they were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
German magazine Der Spiegel posted the text of the group's claim on their website:
"Rejoice, community of Muslims. The heroic mujahedeens today conducted an attack in London. All of Great Britain is now shaken and shocked, in the north, the south, west and east. We've warned the British government and the British people time and again. We've kept our promise and have carried out a blessed military operation.
"We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all other crusader governments. We demand that all countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq."
Shane Brighton, intelligence expert at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense, told Reuters, "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."
The attacks appear designed to coincide with the opening of the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. They also came a day after London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics.
We will continue to cover the tragedy and its aftermath:
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Sources of Terror
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London Terrorists: Do they have the right Suspects?
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Why can't they admit the terrorist threat?
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Time to end the London bomb hysteria
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Learning from the British Stoic Reaction
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Andrew Ian Dodge
Thanks Eric.
2 - Eric Olsen
best wishes Andrew
3 - Dawn
It certainly seems to me that the left's idea of letting the terrorists alone and embracing them with hugs and kisses isn't going to do much at keeping them from trying to kill us.
This one area I strongly support Bush - it is clear that while al Quaeda might be clever, they aren't very smart.
Making enemies around the world isn't doing much for their general popularity. I hope Blair hunts down every single one of them and vivisects them and leaves their corpses rotting in the streets.
Savage motherf*ckers.
4 - Eric Olsen
appeasement is surely not the answer
5 - SFC Ski
This is terrible news, I hope the Brits will find the terrorist cells quickly and take them out.
One thing I doubt the Brits will concern themselves with is, "Why do they hate us?"
6 - bhw
It certainly seems to me that the left's idea of letting the terrorists alone and embracing them with hugs and kisses isn't going to do much at keeping them from trying to kill us.
As a lefty, I can honestly say that I've never advocated hugging or kissing terrorists, or even just leaving them alone.
But I can see now how going after Saddam has taken care of all those terrorists around the globe.
;-)
7 - Eric Olsen
we might as well just give them back Spain and get it over with
8 - SFC Ski
They want the world.
9 - Eric Olsen
couldn't we non-Islamists just move to Mars or something and let them have earth, which clearly Allah has deeded to them?
10 - Andrew Ian Dodge
The interesting irony of course is that there is a major lead-up going on to this Sunday reminding people of Londoners who stood up to Nazism and made it through the blitz. I think it might have an effect on Londoners determination to continue. (Not that bombs are a new thing in London.)
11 - SFC Ski
Well, I can only speak of the Brits that I know; I really this attack making them back down the way the Madrid attacks affected the Spaniards.
12 - Matt
As long as my iPod works on Mars, and you can get Sirius Satellite radio there, I'm game.
13 - Eric Olsen
perhaps this will encourage us all to get over whatever our political reticence is to capture and/or liquidate bin Laden
14 - Eric Berlin
Dawn -- Who on the left is "embracing the terrorists with hugs and kisses"? No one I know, in person or government or public life...
Woke up this morning to the news of the London attacks. Ever since 9/11 (when I witnessed the attacks occur from a San Francisco television station control room) I wake up every morning half-expecting to hear abominable news.
This morning I did.
15 - Nancy
Perhaps it IS time to stop being politically correct, & just start shutting down mosques & deporting muslims back to the middle east they all come from. BTW, I haven't heard a peep from any muslim news source concerning any muslim authorities or organizations whatsoever condemning this latest outrage. Therefore I infer they approve. More reasons to turn them into sheets of nuclear molten glass.
16 - Eric Olsen
I would say Dawn's message is aimed farther left than most anyone around here
17 - SFC Ski
In Iraq, the kidnappers of an Egyptian envoy released a video claiming that the killed him. Probably won't get much press due to the events in London.
18 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
hang on, though, have any of the claims of responsibility actually been verified? an hour ago they were saying that a loada fanatics and groups had claimed they were behind it, but no-one knows yet.
19 - Eric Olsen
perhaps the G8 aspect of this will actually aid the coordination between the nations in the fight against terror - the proximity to the attacks might inspire a few leaders as well
20 - Dawn
My comment is aimed directly at the apologists who think that these attacks are our fault ("our" being Western civilization) for doing what we do best: thriving and being successful.
Unless you are apologizing for that, then clearly I am not talking to you.
21 - Eric Olsen
I say coopt the fuckers even more aggressively than in the past
22 - Eric Berlin
Dawn -- ANYONE who says that is obviously on the fringest of the fringe and barely seems worthy of discussion.
23 - Dawn
Eric B. - Please - there are millions of people who say and think that way, surely they can't be ignored.
24 - Jon Sobel
"the apologists who think that these attacks are our fault"
There are such apologists, but they are a fringe. The problem is, anyone who proposes actually thinking things through and figuring out why things are the way they are - in other words, actually using their brain - is labelled immediately by the knee-jerk Right Wing as being an "appeaser" (cf. Karl Rove's recent ridiculous and offensive "therapy" comment).
25 - Andrew Ian Dodge
JS: You can try to figure out what hell is going on with Islamists without being called an "appeaser". It does help if you don't start by giving them excuses for their behaviour. Trying to understand why people do such things is fine but excusing them is not.