Nations around world beef up security
Wary governments in Europe, Asia and the Americas ordered increased patrols in subways, airports and rail stations in the wake of Thursday's blasts as leaders called emergency meetings to assess the possibility of more violence.
In London, jittery commuters went back to work with police standing guard at rail stations. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the bombers had to be caught before they could cause more destruction.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "The number one purpose today is to identify the perpetrators and arrest them" before they can carry out further attacks, he told BBC radio.
A group calling itself the Organisation of al-Qaeda Jihad in Europe, which claimed responsibility for the bombings, immediately threatened similar attacks in Denmark, Italy and other countries with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The level of alert has been raised in Italy as in all European countries," Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said Friday ahead of a meeting with army, police and intelligence chiefs in Rome.
France said Friday it would tighten border controls, especially its maritime frontier with Britain, after raising its anti-terror alert to red, the second-highest rating.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie deployed military reinforcements to sensitive sites across the country, including train stations and airports.
In Spain, where 191 people were killed in a series of train bombings on March 11 last year claimed by al-Qaeda, Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso ordered the country into its highest anti-terror protection level.
Security forces patrolled communications centres, stadiums, shopping malls, power stations and water facilities.
In Athens, operators of the Greek capital's metro have jammed mobile phone networks as a security precaution, effective until Saturday, company sources said Friday.
Transport officials in Berlin raised their security alert to mid-level as German Interior Minister Otto Schily urged increased vigilance.
Meanwhile security was stepped up at British and US installations, including several British military bases in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Israeli officials immediately implemented a security clampdown at their embassy in London as Russian officials bolstered security in the Moscow metro system, which has been the target of several attacks in recent years.
Patrols in the Netherlands were heightened in and around ports that have sealinks to Britain, while increased security was also reported in other European nations including Belgium, the Czech Republic, Romania and Serbia.
In Australia, Prime Minister John Howard summoned his top counter-terrorism officials but said there were no plans to boost the national alert level, unchanged since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
"The advice from our experts who met last night was not to alter the medium level of alert," said Howard, whose nation, like Britain, has been a staunch ally in the US war in Iraq.
But extra police and security guards were deployed on public transport in Sydney and Melbourne while the police major-incident centre in Brisbane was placed on standby.
South Korea, another war ally, stepped up security around airports and public facilities and warned the 3,500 South Korean troops stationed in Iraq to maintain heightened vigilance.
Thailand reinforced the police presence at subway stations, bus stops and shopping centres, while insisting the country was safe from international terrorism while Singapore boosted security across its public transport network.
India ordered all states to continue a high alert around all security installations, religious buildings and public transport systems already in place since an attack Tuesday by militants on a disputed holy site in the northern town of Ayodhya.
But in Japan, a homeless man pointed up a security loophole when he broke into the British Embassy in Tokyo just hours after police stepped up security around it.
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