LONDON, July 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed Thursday, July 7, that the perpetrators of the London attacks acted "in the name of Islam".

"We know that these people act in the name of Islam," Blair said in a televised address to the nation, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I think we all know what they are trying to do, they are trying to use the slaughter of innocent people to cow us, to frighten us out of doing the things we want to do, of trying to stop us going about our business as normal as we are entitled to do and they should not and must not succeed."

It was not immediately clear if the British authorities had evidence linking Muslims to the attacks which claimed the lives of 37 people.

Brian Paddick, deputy assistant commissioner of London police, told reporters it was too early to say whether suicide bombers were involved in the attacks.

"We are keeping an open mind as to who the perpetrators might be. We have received no claim in terms of who was responsible and so at this time we wouldn't speculate."

A previously unknown group, "Secret Group of al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe", has reportedly claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Blair, meanwhile, thanked the Muslim Council of Great Britain, one of the two leading representatives of the British Muslim minority, for denouncing the attacks.

"I welcome the statement put out by the Muslim Council of Great Britain," he said.

The MCB and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) vehemently condemned the blasts and offered a hand of assistance to the emergency services.

Blair also stressed that "the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent and law abiding people who abhor terrorism every bit as much as we do".

The Islamic Human Rights Commission warned London Muslims to stay at home to avoid any violence aimed at them.

Blair, who returned to Downing Street from the G8 summit to fellow up the attacks, vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks.

"There will of course now be the most intense police and security service action to make sure we bring those responsible to justice," he said.

Blair pledged that terrorists will not succeed.

"When they try to intimidate us, we will not be intimidated, when they seek to change our country, our way of life by these methods, we will not be changed."

He offered his heart-felt condolences to the families of the dead and injured and also praised the work of the emergency services.

"I would like once again to express my sympathy and sorrow for those families that will be grieving so unexpectedly and tragically tonight."

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