Londoners mourn, vow resilence

LONDON - Londoners looked to their churches and their history for strength Sunday as they sought to return their city to its normal vibrancy following the terrorist bombings that killed more than 50 people last Thursday.

City residents packed churches, including one near the site of a bombing that blew the top off of one of London's distinctive red double-decker buses, killing 13 people.

"This will only make us more determined to live in peace and respect each other," said the Rev. Paul Hawkins, at St. Pancras Parish Church.

Other leaders echoed the call for religious tolerance. While police say they are not ruling out any line of inquiry, the suspicion of outside experts has fallen on Islamic radicals, perhaps members of the al-Qaida group blamed for the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001.

Sheikh Zaki Badawi, the head of the Council of Mosques and Imams, said the attacks were "totally contrary to Islam."

"It is an evil that cannot be justified and that we utterly condemn and reject," he said.

And the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said, "It is a huge fallacy to suppose that one community is somehow more intrinsically prone to violence or outrage than any other."

Meanwhile, Londoners drew strength from the bravery of their elders during World War II. Thousands of people gathered outside Buckingham Palace to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.

Queen Elizabeth said the courage of those who fought then should inspire Britons today.

"It does not surprise me that, during the present difficult days for London, people look to the example set by those of resilience, humor and sustained courage, often under conditions of great deprivation," she said.

The painstaking and difficult investigation continued Sunday. Using anti-terrorism laws, police arrested three men arriving at Heathrow airport under Sunday, but they cautioned that there may be no connection between the arrests and the bombings. Associated Press later reported that the three were later released without charges.

Police have arrested more than 700 people under the anti-terrorism laws since 2001. The majority have not been charged in the end.

"I am told that it is inappropriate and pure speculation at this stage to be drawing any direct linkages with the attacks in London," said Brian Paddick, the deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

In other developments:

* Police asked mobile phone companies and internet providers to save the voicemails, e-mails and phone text messages that were in their systems on the day of the attacks. Some companies have said they cannot, for technical

reasons. Police have also asked the public to send them any photos, phone pictures or videos taken near the attacks last Thursday.

* Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens said the bombers were "almost certainly" from Britain, and that radical Islamic groups were recruiting as many as 200 British-born extremists to continue the attacks. Current police officials have not commented on who might be responsible for the bombings.

* Three British newspapers said that Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a Syrian al-Qaida chief suspected of planning last year's train bombings in Madrid, has emerged as a suspect. And British news organizations said investigators have asked European law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for Mohamed al-Guerbouzi, a Moroccan who was granted asylum in Britain.

* Police evacuated 20,000 people from the entertainment district in central Birmingham Saturday night after intelligence officials thought they detected a security threat. Chief Constable Paul Scott declined Sunday to describe the nature of the threat, but said the danger had passed.

* And Britons expressed determination to return to their usual way of living. Eighty-seven percent of respondents to a Sky News instant poll Sunday asking whether they've changed their routines since Thursday's

attacks said no.