Also from CNN...
-----------------------------
World shock over U.S. attacks
September 11, 2001 Posted: 3:00 PM EDT (1900 GMT)
LONDON, England -- World leaders reacted with revulsion as news spread of the aircraft attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and on the Pentagon in Washington.
A sombre and visibly shaken British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the world's democracies must "fight this evil" perpetrated by suspected terrorists in the U.S..
Blair, who cancelled a speech he was due to make to union leaders in Brighton, southern England, added these sort of attacks were "perpetrated by fanatics, utterly indifferent to the sanctity of human life."
"This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today. It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of life," he said.
In France, armed troops have been deployed at airports and metro stations. Border controls have increased. French President Jacques Chirac called the attacks "monstrous."
The U.S. Embassy in Paris is closed and will be shut again on Wednesday. The embassy is warning Americans in France to be careful about speaking English on the streets.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to U.S. President George W. Bush. "Dear George," he wrote, "such an inhuman act must not go unpunished."
Chinese President Jiang Zemin also sent a message to Bush expressing sympathy over the deadly attacks, Xinhua news agency was reported by Reuters as saying.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said his country's position was "total rejection of this sort of terrorist attack," Reuters said.
In Islamabad, Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, said: "We want to tell the American children that Afghanistan feels your pain and we hope that the courts find justice."
In Kabul, Afghanistan, Wakeel Ahmed Mutawakel, the foreign minister of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban government, told the Arab television network Al Jazeera, "We denounce this terrorist attack, whoever is behind it."
U.S. officials said their "working assumption" is that the attacks in New York and Washington were acts of "overseas terrorism" and said they cannot rule out additional attacks. The officials said they had no intelligence beforehand that a massive terrorist plot was under way.
There have been a number of denials of responsibility by Palestinian groups and by the Al Quaida group headed by fugitive Saudi and accused terrorist Osama bin Laden. U.S. officials say they have received no credible claim of responsibility.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat expressed their condolences for the attack. Reaction from other Palestinian sources has been harsh.
Sheikh Yassin, leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, said "no doubt this is a result of injustice the U.S practices against the weak in the world."
From Gaza, Islamic Jihad official Nafez Azzam said "what happened in the United States today is a consequence of American policies in this region."
Both Yassin and Azzam said they were against the killing of innocent people.
In the West Bank, Qais abu Leila, leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, denied any connection to the incident and said it has always opposed "terror attacks on civilian targets, especially outside the occupied territories."
He added: "We call on the U.S. administration to review their attitudes and policies towards the Palestinian question because this policy arouses the hatred and anger of Arab and Islamic peoples and urges them to harm U.S. interests in our region."
More reaction
EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten told Reuters."This is an act of war by madmen."
He compared the attack with that deployed by the Japanese at the U.S. naval base Pearl Harbor in 1941.
"It is the worst attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor," he added.
"This is one of those few days in life that one can actually say will change everything."
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson called it an "intolerable aggression against democracy," Reuters reported.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the attacks "deliberate acts of terrorism, carefully planned and co-ordinated."
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was reported by Reuters as saying: "The United States of America is face to face with one of the greatest tragedies in its history, something that could affect the entire world,"
Flags half-mast in Italy
The Italian and EU flags flew at half-mast at the office of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who said Italy joined the U.S. in condemning "these monstrous criminals who have demonstrated a vile and brutal affront against humanity," The Associated Press said.
French President Jacques Chirac, in a live televised address, condemned the attacks as "monstrous," AP said, while prime minister Lionel Jospin talked of his "sadness and horror."
Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Army Radio it was "simply a tragedy," Reuters reported.
"It's simply a terrible thing."
Guy Verhofstadt, the prime minister of Belgium, which currently holds the chair of the EU, expressed "deep shock and dismay" on hearing of the attacks.
"On behalf of the European Union, [Verhofstadt and foreign minister Louis Michel] condemn in the strongest possible terms this type of cowardly attack on innocent civilians."
EU foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to consider their response to the attacks.
A spokesman for the German foreign ministry said: "The foreign minister is dismayed and shocked by the reports from New York."
Pope John Paul II sent a telegram, which said: "I hurry to express to you and your fellow citizens my profound sorrow and my closeness in prayer for the nation at this dark and tragic moment."
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II also sent a message of condolence to U.S. President George W. Bush expressing her "disbelief and total shock."
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark described the attacks as a horror story.
"It's the sort of thing the worst movie scenario wouldn't dream up," Clark told Reuters by telephone from Hong Kong.
"It's obviously a very sophisticated terrorist attack to get all that co-ordinated."
Japan ordered its military to tighten security for the huge U.S. bases scattered across the country and U.S. Marines went on maximum alert.
"This incident in the United States is extremely cowardly and is beyond what any words can describe," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was reported by Reuters as saying.