“Four London Blasts Kill 40, Injure 300,” from AP:
LONDON — Three blasts rocked the London subway and one tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday, sending bloodied victims fleeing in what a shaken Prime Minister Tony Blair called “barbaric” terrorist attacks. A U.S. law enforcement official said at least 40 people were killed and London hospitals reported more than 300 injured….
“Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilized nations throughout the world,” said Blair.
U.S. authorities were monitoring the situation, but the official said it was too early to say who was responsible for the blasts. Investigators were trying to determine whether an al-Qaida cell’s claim of responsibility for the attacks was credible, the official said….
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. The Web statement, republished on the site of the German magazine Der Spiegel, could not be immediately confirmed.