London explosions: Eye witness accounts and expert analysis

Emergency services personnel work near the site of a bus explosion in Tavistock Square in London. Picture / Reuters

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR:

"It's reasonably clear there have been a series of terrorist attacks."

RICHARD CLARKE, TERRORISM EXPERT, on ABC's "GOOD MORNING AMERICA ":

"This is a highly complex, co-ordinated attack. This is clearly in my mind related to the fact that the prime minister of the United Kingdom is at the other end of the country hosting the leaders of the industrial world." "If it is Islamic terrorism -- jihadist terrorism -- they are sending a message that the leaders of the industrial world are being mocked and laid low by the jihadist terrorists."

ROLF TOPHOVEN, DIRECTOR OF THE TERRORISM RESEARCH INSITUTE IN ESSEN, GERMANY

"London is a centre of Islamist propaganda in Europe. There have been permanent, massive threats since the involvement of the British government in the Iraq war. Let's not forget that the main enemy for the Islamists is the United States, and that's not just since Sept. 11, 2001 and Tony Blair is the closest ally of George W. Bush, so from that point of view it makes sense to hit the closest ally of the USA. This is another parallel with Madrid."

SEBESTYEN GORKA, SECURITY ANALYST:

"The first thing that's very obvious is the synchronised nature of the attacks, and that's pretty classic for al Qaeda or al Qaeda-related organisations. If we're talking about several attacks on one day, then there's a good likelihood we're talking about a known quantity here...The similarities to Madrid are clear."

ANGELO POWER, LAWYER, EYEWITNESS ON UNDERGROUND TRAIN

"There were flashes of light, people were screaming and smoke began to billow into the carriage. People prayed to God...We were trapped like sardines waiting to die. I honestly thought I was going to die."

CHRIS BELLAMY, TERRORISM EXPERT, TO SKY NEWS:

"It has the coordination and the simultaneity of one group in particular, although it's too early to say. What we may be talking about here is not suicide bombers but just packages left on trains. It is the softest of targets. We've expected something like this for some time"

BOB MILLS, EYEWITNESS AT RUSSELL SQUARE:

"Looking at the wreckage it looks as if the bomb, or whatever it was, exploded on the top deck of the bus at the back. I did see a lot of bodies being treated on the ground, people were already streaming out of Euston station after that was evacuated"

ANJA DALGAARD-NIELSEN, DANISH INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (DIIS)

"It's shocking. It's always problematic to guess at such an early stage but co-ordinated bombs, that's the trademark of the networks that subscribe to al-Qaeda's ideology. The IRA has not carried out such attacks against civilians for ages, at least not without prior warning."

MJ GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION, ON CNN

"The chances are that it could be an al-Qaeda type operation... Al-Qaeda and its friends do seem to like attacking the transport systems around the world."

SUSAN, EYEWITNESS TO SKY NEWS:

"We were walking from Kings Cross...I heard a bang I looked around the whole top of the bus and the back of it just blew off...there were people running everywhere."

LUCY MILES, 25, EYEWITNESS

"We were sitting in traffic jam and there was a huge explosion. Everyone ran down from the top of our bus and pushed their way out screaming but the driver wouldn't open the doors." "There were hundreds and hundreds of people running back from Euston Road and some of them were crying and covering their faces. I stopped a bloke and asked what was going on and he said he had seen debris flying out of a building."

Emergency phone numbers

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade NZ: 0800 432 111.

NZ High Commission in London: 0044-20-7930-8422.

- REUTERS