Britons wonder if attacks are price of Iraq war

Despite widespread opposition at home, Prime Minister Tony Blair was the United States' staunchest ally during the March 2003 invasion to remove dictator Saddam Hussein.

British troops secured the south of the country around the city of Basra, where approximately 8,000 remain.

And while the country's casualties remain far below those suffered by the Americans, 89 British soldiers have died since the conflict began.

Blair's unflinching backing for US President George W. Bush over Iraq has been politically costly for the British prime minister.

He has had to endure a pair of damaging public inquiries into matters relating to the war, while the sharply reduced majority won by his Labour party in this May's election has been blamed in no small part on Iraq.

But some opponents say Blair's policies have also had a potential cost for the wider public in making Britain, particularly London, a prime target for Islamic terrorism.

While it is not known for certain who carried out Thursday's coordinated bombings in the British capital which left at least 37 dead and injured hundreds more, the government has made it clear what it thinks.

"We know that these people act in the name of Islam," Blair said.

His British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said later that the attacks bore "all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda," the Islamic group led by Osama bin Laden which carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"That is obviously the principle assumption on which the police and intelligence agencies are operating," Straw said.

Since the Iraq war, London has been bracing itself for a major attack.