Thursday, July 7 2005 17:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair said there has been a series of terrorist attacks in London.

There have been deaths and injuries in the explosions, a visibly shaken Blair said in a statement at Gleneagles in Scotland, where he is attending the G-8 summit.

Blair said that his Government's determination to defend, "Our values are greater than the determination to cause death and destruction... they will never succeed."

Terming the strikes as "barbaric", he said it was reasonably clear that the blasts were "terrorist attacks."

Blair said he was leaving the G-8 summit for London to get reports from police, emergency services and ministers, who were dealing with the situation, and return later this evening.

He said it was the will of all the leaders of G-8 that the summit should continue in his absence. "All the leaders share our determination to defeat this terrorism."

It was "particularly barbaric" that this should occur when the leaders were meeting to tackle poverty, Blair said.

Blair said that just as it was reasonably clear that, "This is a terrorist attack or a series of terrorist attacks, it is also reasonably clear that it is designed and aimed to coincide with the opeining of G-8.

"It is important, however, that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world.

"Whatever they do it is our determination that they won't succeed in detroying what we hold dear in this country and other civilized nations throughout the world."