LONDON, July 16, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged the world Saturday, July 16, to launch a hearts-and-minds struggle to confront the "evil ideology" of Islamic extremism.

"The greatest danger is that we fail to face up to the nature of the threat that we're dealing with. What we are confronting here is an evil ideology," Blair told a Labour Party conference, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"This is the battle that must be won, a battle not just about the terrorist methods but their views. Not just their barbaric acts, but their barbaric ideas. Not only what they do but what they think and the thinking they would impose on others."

He said this ideology was a strain that was altogether removed from the "essential decency and truth" of Islam.

"All civilized people, Muslim or other, feel revulsion at it. But it is a global struggle. It is a battle of ideas and hearts and minds, both within Islam and outside it," Blair said.

He added that extremists have founded their ideology on a belief "whose fanaticism is such that it can't be moderated. It can't be remedied. It has to be stood up to."

Blair went on: "We must pull this up by the roots. Within Britain we must join up with our Muslim community to take on the extremists. Worldwide, we should confront it everywhere it exists."

Addressing the House of Commons last week, Blair pledged to work with Muslims in Britain to promote the "moderate and true voice" of Islam.

Fifty-five people have been confirmed dead after four bombers, three of them Britons of Pakistani heritage, attacked three subway trains and a double-decker bus during morning rush hour on Thursday, July 7.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, warned on Monday, July 11, against making Muslims "scapegoats" for the bombings.

Famed British writer Karen Armstrong wrote in the Guardian that terror has no religion, with people calling themselves Muslims, Christians or Jews committing crimes in the name of their great religions.

Khan’s family said that he was "brainwashed".

Meanwhile, families of the London bombers released statements expressing grief and disbelief.

"We are devastated that our son may have been brainwashed into carrying out such an atrocity, since we know him as a kind and caring member of our family," said the parents of Mohammad Sidique Khan, one of the bombers.

"We had no knowledge of his activities and, had we done, we would have done everything in our power to stop him," added the statement, which was carried by the BBC News Online.

"We urge people with the tiniest piece of information to come forward in order to expose these terror networks which target and groom our sons to carry out such evils."

Khan, a 30-year-old primary school teaching assistant, was married with a daughter. He had visited the British parliament last year and met a cabinet minister during a trip with his school.

On Friday, the family of 18-year-old bomber Hasib Mir Hussain also said they were "devastated" by what had happened.

"We are having difficulty taking this in. Our thoughts are with all the bereaved families and we have to live ourselves with the loss of our son in these difficult circumstances."