The British Home Secretary has warned of further terrorist attacks in Britain.
Charles Clarke said he feared more attacks if the perpetrators were not caught. "Our fear is of course of more attacks until we succeed in tracking down the gang that committed the atrocities on Thursday," he said. "That is why the number one priority has to be the catching of the perpetrators."
Speaking on the BBC's News 24 Sunday programme Mr Clarke said he was "very optimistic" of catching the bombers. And he praised the police for their response to the threat in Birmingham last night.
Mr Clarke said there would be a whole series of security threats and possible attacks. Asked if he thought the attackers were from Britain or abroad he said nothing had been ruled in or out in the investigation. But he said there were British citizens suspected of terrorist activities.
He said he would consider granting further "control orders" if he thought they were necessary. He said they were a useful tool.
Mr Clarke is also expected to propose further anti-terrorism measures including that records of all private telephone calls, text messages and e-mails be retained by telecommunications firms and passed on to the police and security services.
"Telecommunications records, whether of telephones or of emails, which record what calls were made from what number to another number at what time are of very important use for intelligence," he said. "I am not talking about the content of any call but the fact that a call was made. And we believe it is important to get a retention of data of what calls were made from some considerable time.
"This is an issue of international agreement and that is what I will be discussing with my European colleagues in Brussels on Wednesday."
Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens today said eight attacks on Britain had been foiled in the last five years. Mr Clarke said he would not dispute that. "There were attacks which were thwarted," he said.
Mr Clarke declined to elaborate on the expected death toll other than to say it was likely to be more than 50.
He said it was "total nonsense" to suggest Britain was a safe haven for terrorists because of its toleration of fanatics. And he said the Government was taking action to improve border security.
"We have agreed a whole set of measures to have much tighter borders - the so-called e-borders system which will check people as they come into the country and also check them again as they go out of the country to make sure all the various conditions have been properly carried through," he said.
PA