Grit and resolve — Londoners defy terrorists: take buses, tube

LONDON — Displaying remarkable grit, Londoners took buses, subways and taxis back to work Friday in defiance of terrorists as authorities pledged "implacable resolve" to hunt down those responsible for the subway and bus bombings that killed at least 50 people.

Buses and trains ran normally, and only three of London's 12 underground subway lines remained out of service from Thursday's terror bombings.

"We will not be beaten down by terrorism," British Transport Police Chief Willie McCafferty said outside the King's Cross subway station, where forensic teams scoured a blast site deep underground for criminal evidence.

In sharp contrast to the United States, where many Americans felt the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks transformed them forever, Britons seemed determined to show that Thursday's blasts wouldn't alter their way of life.

"It's absolutely the reverse of the United States. . . We'll treat this (terror cam-

paign) purely as an inconvenience," said Paul Dadge, a volunteer rescuer whose image appeared on the front page of several of Europe's major newspapers.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the death toll had likely passed 50 people and may rise further as teams clear wreckage of a train near Russell Square station. Twenty-two of the 700 people wounded in the bombings are hospitalized in "critical condition," he said.

The toll climbed as police increased from two to 13 the number of people killed on a double-decker bus near Tavistock Square.

The bus bombing and blasts aboard three rush-hour tube trains were each caused by "less than 10 pounds of high explosives," London police special operations chief Andy Hayman said. The bombs aboard the subways were placed on the floor near the doors of the first carriages in the trains, he said.

Fatalities included visitors from Sierra Leone, Australia, Portugal, Poland and China, but no Americans thus far.

Police put up huge screens to block the view of Tavistock Square as they combed for clues to determine whether the blast that ripped through the bus was triggered by a suicide bomber, a timer or remote control.

"Most important is the forensic evidence," Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the British Broadcasting Corp. "We are looking for a small number of evil needles in a very big haystack."

Clarke said an unprecedented manhunt was designed to halt further attacks.