London remembers 7/7 attacks a decade on


(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) London marked the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bomb attacks on Tuesday, remembering the 52 victims killed in the worst terror attack launched in Britain, local media reported.

Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson led the commemorations, laying floral tributes at the 7/7 memorial in Hyde Park timed to coincide with the first of four explosions that targeted commuters a decade ago.

"Ten years on, this is one of those days where everyone remembers exactly where they were when they heard the news," Cameron said at the ceremony, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

"It's a day when we recall the incredible resolve and resolution of Londoners and the United Kingdom, a day when we remember the threat we still face but above all it's a day when we think of the grace and the dignity of the victims' families for all they have been through and we honor the memory of those victims and all those that were lost 10 years ago today," he said.

Four suicide bombers targeted London's transport system, setting off blasts on three underground tube trains and a bus.

Johnson said the attackers "failed in their aim" and that the "fundamentals of London and what makes this city great" had not been changed.

Survivors, victims' relatives, members of the emergency services and politicians attended the service at Hyde Park and were due to attend another at St Paul's Cathedral later.

Small groups of survivors also gathered at the four bombing sites - Edgware Road, King's Cross and Aldgate stations and in Tavistock Square, where a double-decker bus was targeted.

A minute's silence is due to be held across the country at 11.30 a.m. local time (1030GMT) and the capital's public transport network will halt to observe the silence.

Commuters cut short their daily bus and tube journeys to get off a stop early and walk the rest of the way under a #walktogether social media campaign to remember the 2005 atrocities.

Tennis matches at the Wimbledon tournament were delayed until after the minute's silence.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the day was to acknowledge the "strength, solidarity and resilience of London and the people who live here".

British mosques hosted "peace iftars" ahead of the anniversary and more events were scheduled for Tuesday evening.

"The best way to defy the terrorist is to increase our bonds of unity, not to single out any one group of people for blame or opprobrium, especially if they had nothing to do with such carnage and have actively spoken out against it," The Guardian newspaper reported Shuja Shafi, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, as saying.

The anniversary came less than a fortnight after 30 Britons were among 38 people slain in a terror attack on a beach resort in Tunisia. Cameron said the attack in Sousse was a "brutal reminder" of the threat.


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