British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair said today that Britain and its allies must work quickly with the United States to bring to justice those responsible for the devastating attacks on two US cities.
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Mr Tony Blair
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He said Britain's parliament would be recalled early from its summer break and would discuss on Friday the implications of yesterday's attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the capital.
"America may have been singled out by these terrorists but their attack is aimed at all of us, and it is therefore vitally imperative that we stand together in defeating it," Mr Blair told reporters at his Downing Street office.
Mr Blair said the international community must find out who carried out the attacks and then consider how they operate, who bankrolls them and how they can be stopped.
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"People of all faiths and all democratic political persuasions have a common cause: to identify this machinery of terror and dismantle it as swiftly as possible," Mr Blair said.
Mr Blair said he would not discuss how far Britain was prepared to go in support of the United States nor what form any retaliation might take.
London is considered Washington's closest ally.
In 1986, the United States used British air bases to launch an air raid against the Libyan capital Tripoli in revenge for the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque frequented by US soldiers.
Britain was also a key player in the US-led allied force that ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991 and still participates in the policing of no-fly zones in Iraq.