Fretful Londoners return to work

LONDON – Millions of Londoners returned to work yesterday riding rush hour trains and buses, trading fretful glances amid security warnings that new attacks could occur as long as the bombers remained at large.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was meanwhile preparing to fend off opposition Conservative calls in parliament for an investigation into whether last Thursday’s attacks could have been prevented. After a day of prayers for the victims, mingled with commemorations of heroism on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, people descended into subway trains and rode the buses to work again.Some rode bicycles either because they feared further attacks or to avoid Underground lines truncated by the police investigation and the continuing search for victims of the bombings, which killed at least 49 people and wounded some 700.Transport police said one line remained suspended while parts of four other lines were closed.Although they had no figures, London Transport officials anticipated that fewer people would use trains and buses on Monday, but they expected a normal passenger load to return over the next few days.Commuters shaken by the attacks regarded their neighbours with suspicion as they rode the Underground yesterday.”I was a bit hesitant at first, but I have to use the Tube to get to work,” said 20-year-old office worker Daniel Jakes.”People were glaring at each other, so I did feel a bit paranoid,” he told AFP.Janice Rose, 55, a traffic warden manager travelling on the underground from West Ealing in west London, said: “I think I am still traumatised by Thursday, and whoever I see around me on the train or the bus, I see as a suspect.”Andy Trotter, deputy chief constable of the British Transport Police, warned Sunday that Londoners can “defeat the terrorists” by showing up for work and keeping London open “for business.”Police said 49 bodies had been pulled from the four blast sites, a blown-apart Number 30 double-decker bus and three London Underground train tunnels, and they hoped to find no more.The first victim to be formally identified was named as Susan Levy.The three train blasts in London occurred on Thursday within 50 seconds of one another at about 8.50am, a level of coordination that bore the hallmarks of an attack by suspected al Qaeda operatives, and there have been two claims of responsibility by groups linked to the organisation.”I am confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice in the end,” Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the BBC.”Our fear is of course of more attacks until we succeed in tracking down the gang that committed the atrocities on Thursday,” Clarke said.”That is why the number one priority has to be the catching of the perpetrators.”Investigators say they have already established that the bombers used a high explosive – they will not disclose further details – and that each device was lighter than 4,5 kilogrammes.- Nampa-AFPAfter a day of prayers for the victims, mingled with commemorations of heroism on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, people descended into subway trains and rode the buses to work again.Some rode bicycles either because they feared further attacks or to avoid Underground lines truncated by the police investigation and the continuing search for victims of the bombings, which killed at least 49 people and wounded some 700.Transport police said one line remained suspended while parts of four other lines were closed.Although they had no figures, London Transport officials anticipated that fewer people would use trains and buses on Monday, but they expected a normal passenger load to return over the next few days.Commuters shaken by the attacks regarded their neighbours with suspicion as they rode the Underground yesterday.”I was a bit hesitant at first, but I have to use the Tube to get to work,” said 20-year-old office worker Daniel Jakes.”People were glaring at each other, so I did feel a bit paranoid,” he told AFP.Janice Rose, 55, a traffic warden manager travelling on the underground from West Ealing in west London, said: “I think I am still traumatised by Thursday, and whoever I see around me on the train or the bus, I see as a suspect.”Andy Trotter, deputy chief constable of the British Transport Police, warned Sunday that Londoners can “defeat the terrorists” by showing up for work and keeping London open “for business.”Police said 49 bodies had been pulled from the four blast sites, a blown-apart Number 30 double-decker bus and three London Underground train tunnels, and they hoped to find no more.The first victim to be formally identified was named as Susan Levy.The three train blasts in London occurred on Thursday within 50 seconds of one another at about 8.50am, a level of coordination that bore the hallmarks of an attack by suspected al Qaeda operatives, and there have been two claims of responsibility by groups linked to the organisation.”I am confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice in the end,” Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the BBC.”Our fear is of course of more attacks until we succeed in tracking down the gang that committed the atrocities on Thursday,” Clarke said.”That is why the number one priority has to be the catching of the perpetrators.”Investigators say they have already established that the bombers used a high explosive – they will not disclose further details – and that each device was lighter than 4,5 kilogrammes.- Nampa-AFP