Worldwide security alert
2005-07-08 08:43
Sydney - Nations across the world tightened security on Friday after a string of deadly bombings rocked London in an attack that Britain said bore the hallmarks of Muslim militant group al-Qaeda.
Wary governments from Asia to the Americas ordered increased patrols at subways, airports and rail stations as leaders called emergency meetings to assess the threat of more violence.
In Australia, Prime Minister John Howard summoned his top counter-terrorism officials but said there were no plans to boost the national alert level, unchanged since the September 11 2001 attacks in the United States.
But more police were put on commuter trains in Australia's second-largest city of Melbourne, while the police major-incident centre in Brisbane was placed on standby within hours of the London attacks.
Suspicious packages
South Korea, another war ally, stepped up security at government offices and public facilities while the National Intelligence Agency advised Koreans travelling abroad to exercise caution.
South Korea's troops in Iraq were also put on high alert.
In the United States, Michael Chertoff, the US secretary of homeland security - a post only created after September 11 - raised the threat level to code orange or "high" for trains, subways and buses.
Thousands of police and bomb-sniffing dogs fanned out through the New York city transit system while extra patrols were deployed to guard bridges, tunnels and the drinking water supply.
Washington briefly closed two subway stations because of suspicious packages as bomb dogs and armed police beefed up their presence on the US capital's underground system.
Transport officials in Toronto, Canada's largest city, urged subway crews and bus drivers to remain on alert.
Officials across Europe also ordered increased security.
"The state of alert concerns all of Europe," Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu told reporters after meeting police officials and anti-terrorism experts in Rome.
In Spain, where 191 people were killed in a series of train bombings on March 11 last year claimed by al-Qaeda, Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso ordered the country into its highest anti-terror protection level.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin stepped up his nation's anti-terror alert to red, the second-highest rating - meaning random checks on trains and increased restrictions on air space.
Transport officials in Berlin raised their security alert to mid-level.
Israeli officials immediately implemented a security clampdown at their embassy in London.
Russian officials bolstered security in the Moscow metro system, which has been the target of several attacks in recent years.
In the Czech Republic, authorities increased patrols in shopping centres and other buildings.
Patrols in the Netherlands were heightened in an around ports that have sealinks to Britain, while increased security was also reported in other European nations including Belgium, Italy, Romania and Serbia.
- AFP