Britons yesterday remembered the victims of the London terrorist bombings a week ago with two minutes of silent reflection. Taxis and buses pulled over to the side of the road and workers put down their tools in honor of the dead and wounded.
Police in London handed out leaflets asking for help in tracking down the bombers, and authorities in the northern city of Leeds -- where investigators believe the suspects came from -- searched another address in their hunt for evidence.
Office workers streamed outside and construction crews stood with their hard hats at their sides. Thousands were heading for Trafalgar Square for a show of unity and defiance.
PHOTO: AP
At Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II emerged just before noon and stood silently in the main gateway to the palace.
As Big Ben chimed at noon, tourists and Londoners alike stopped on the sidewalks outside the Houses of Parliament and bowed their heads.
The usually thronging hordes of tourists outside Westminster Abbey were also silent. Many closed their eyes and clutched their hands together as if in prayer. Vehicles came to a standstill in the usually busy Parliament Square as taxi drivers and motorists ignored the green signals on traffic lights.
British television interrupted normal broadcasting to show photos of the aftermath of the July 7 attacks: soot-faced commuters fleeing in fear and paramedics tending to the injured.
In Leeds, hundreds gathered outside the Hamara Living Center, where one of the suspects had counseled disabled youth. With heads bowed, they faced the center and marked the moment.
"We condemn these terrorists and what they have done," said Munir Shah, the imam of the Stratford Street mosque near the Leeds neighborhood that police were searching. "We refuse to call them Muslims. They are not. Islam does not agree or teach about the killing of innocent people."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair marked the two-minute silence in the garden of his official residence at 10 Downing Street, where he was hosting a reception for police officers receiving bravery awards not related to the bombings. In the House of Commons and the House of Lords, lawmakers broke off debates to join in the silence.
Trucks, cars and mounted police all paused along the busy Euston Road outside King's Cross station, where a memorial garden has been a focus of the city's grief. London Mayor Ken Livingstone laid a wreath there, and hundreds stood outside to observe the silence at the station near the worst of the attacks -- a subway bombing that killed at least 21 people.
People across Europe also paused for two minutes of silence yesterday to honor the victims.
In Paris, where Bastille Day celebrations were under way, sirens wailed across the city and French President Jacques Chirac and visiting Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula de Silva stood at attention outside the Elysee Palace.
In Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country that hopes to start EU membership talks in October, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and two other ministers stood in silence for two minutes, interrupting a meeting in Ankara.
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The Times newspaper, quoting unidentified police sources, said detectives were interested in locating M. Asi el-Mashar, 33, an Egyptian-born academic who recently taught chemistry at Leeds University. The Times said he was thought to have rented one of the homes being searched in Leeds.
Neighbors reported that el-Mashar had recently left Britain, saying he had a visa problem, the Times reported.
The Daily Telegraph said police were trying to identify a man seen standing near the four suspects on the platform at Luton railway station, where they apparently boarded a train for London on the morning of the bombings.
The Evening Standard reported on Wednesday that police had spotted a fifth man on a tape showing the group at King's Cross about 20 minutes before the explosions.
Late on Wednesday, Scotland Yard said anti-terror police had raided a residence northwest of London as part of their investigations into the bombings. No arrests were reported.
News reports have identified three Britons of Pakistani descent as suspects in the July 7 attacks on three underground trains and a bus in London that killed 52 and injured 700.
Britain's Press Association, citing police sources, said that police had identified a fourth suspect but no name or details were reported.
The BBC has reported that a fifth suspect was being sought, citing unidentified sources.
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