The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has held talks with US President Mr George W. Bush as a national rally against his visit takes place in London.
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Prime Minister Tony Blair (left) and US President George Bush.
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Tens of thousands are expected on the capital's streets this afternoon in what organisers have said will be Britain's largest weekday protest.
Mr Bush and Mr Blair said that the deadly blasts in Istanbul proved the need to press on with the war against terrorism and justified the war in Iraq, but the attacks inevitably overshadowed the main day of political discussions of Mr Bush's visit.
Mr Blair extended his sympathies to the families of those killed - some of whom would have been British, he said.
Speaking at a joint press conference with President Bush at the Foreign Office in London, Mr Blair said the attacks demonstrated "the evil these terrorists pose to innocent people everywhere".
Mr Blair said: "Once again we must affirm that in the face of this terrorism there must be no holding back, no compromise, no hesitation in confronting this menace, in attacking it wherever and whenever we can and in defeating it utterly."
President Bush added: "The nature of the terrorists is evidenced once again - we see their utter contempt for innocent life. They hate freedom, they hate free nations."
Mr Bush and Mr Blair announced no breakthroughs on the two
most contentious issues - the treatment of British detainees at
the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and US tariffs
on steel that the World Trade Organization has ruled illegal.
Amid the tightest security ever seen in the British capital,
up to 100,000 anti-war protesters plan to take to the streets
today to express anger over a war that divided Britain.
Ms Lindsey German of Stop The War Coalition said she did not
expect the Istanbul attacks to dampen the protests. "I think
people will still turn out in force," she said.
"We said before the war that these sorts of attacks would
increase as Britain and America were potential targets. The only
way to stop this is not by bombing people but by finding a
political solution."
The rally is to culminate in Trafalgar Square with the
toppling of a giant effigy of Bush in an echo of Saddam
Hussein's statue being pulled down in Baghdad.