July 8, 2005	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1426

LONDON, July 7: A defiant Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed on Thursday to bring those behind Britain’s deadliest peace-time attacks to justice and said the country would not bow to terrorism.

Addressing the nation after three bombs tore through London’s underground network and a fourth devastated a bus, leaving at least 37 dead and 700 injured, Blair offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

“There will of course now be the most intense police and security service action to make sure we bring those responsible to justice,” a visibly shaken Blair said in a televised address.

The British leader, who cut short a Group of Eight summit in Scotland to rush back to London in the wake of the crisis, said the attackers intended to strike terror through the nation and prevent people from going about their business.

“They should not and they must not succeed,” he said.

“When they try to intimidate us we will not be intimidated. When they seek to change our country or our way of life by these methods we will not be changed,” he vowed.

“When they try to divide our people or weaken our resolve, we will not be divided and our resolve will hold firm.

“We will show by our spirit and dignity and by a quiet but true strength that there is in the British people, that our values will long outlast theirs.

He welcomed a statement by the Muslim Council of Britain, which said it “utterly condemns the perpetrators of what appears to be a series of co-ordinated attacks”. “We know that these people act in the name of Islam but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent and law abiding people who abhor terrorism every bit as much as we do,” said Blair.

He added that authorities were working to ensure transportation would be restored in the capital.—AFP