Queen vows defiance as London death toll exceeds 50

By Anna Tomforde Jul 8, 2005, 16:49 GMT

London - Queen Elizabeth II Friday delivered a strong and defiant message to terrorists who killed at least 50 people and injured 700 in London saying: "They will not change our way of life."

As more horrific details of Thursday's multiple blasts on the city's underground and bus network emerged, police admitted Friday that the attacks bore "all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda."

London police chief Ian Blair said it was now known that 13 people died when the last of the four devices exploded on a double-decker bus.

Previously, the number of the victims from the bus blast had been given as 2. Blair added that the exact number of fatalities remained "difficult to determine."

At least 22 of the 700 people injured in the blasts were still in "serious or critical condition."

Queen Elizabeth II visited badly burned victims in the Royal Hospital in east London on Friday. She told them: "Bombs will not change our way of life."

Recalling the World War II bombing of London by the German Luftwaffe, known as the Blitz, and the terrorist campaign of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the 1970s and 80s, she said: "We have been here before."

In her message, described as unusually direct, the monarch said: "Atrocities such as these simply reinforce our sense of community, our humanity, and our trust in the rule of law. That is the clear message from us all."

Similar defiance was shown by the police chief and by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who both said the attacks were "nothing" compared to the London Blitz.

Livingstone, in an emotional appeal to the perpetrators, said: "Watch next week as we bury our dead and mourn them, but also see new people coming to our city to call themselves Londoners."

Blair said among those injured in the attacks were citizens from Sierra Leone, Australia, Portugal, Poland, and China.

German authorities said earlier that four Germans were injured in the blasts.

Police said a number of bodies were still trapped in the wreckage of one of the ill-fated tube trains Friday, with the instability of the damaged tunnel making rescue work difficult.

However, it was unlikely that the final death toll would top 100, the police chief said.

There was "absolutely nothing to suggest" that a suicide bomber was involved in the attack on the bus, which followed bomb blasts on three underground trains early Thursday, said Blair.

But he backed comments made by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that the attacks "bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda."

As recovery operations continued, a massive intelligence and police investigation was under way to track down the perpetrators.

It was "blindingly obvious" that a terrorist cell was operating in Britain, said Blair, vowing his forces' "implacable resolve" to track down the killers.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke admitted earlier Friday that the authorities had been "wrong" in their decision to lower the level of security threat in the capital shortly before the attacks, and with all attention being focused on the summit of G8 leaders in Scotland.

"Obviously it was wrong, and in the light of events the threat level will be increased", he said.

Prime Minister Tony Blair ended the G8 summit at Gleneagles early to return to London to chair crisis meetings over the attacks.

Anti-terrorist branch chief Andy Haymann said each of the bombs used in the attacks contained less than 5 kilogrammes of high explosives.

They were probably placed on the floor of the train carriages or, in the case of the bus, on the seat after having been carried in a "rucksack-type" container.

Investment bank Merrill Lynch Friday estimated the damage caused by the London attacks at more than 1 billion pounds (1.8 billion dollars).