Britain came to a standstill Thursday at noon for two minutes of silence in memory of the victims of the London suicide bombings a week ago, the worst ever terror attack against the country.

People poured out of buildings into the hushed streets of London, where bus drivers turned off their engines and cars and taxis drew to a halt to pay their respects to the more than 50 people killed and 700 injured in last Thursday's bombings.

Flags flew at half-mast as Queen Elizabeth II joined the nation in the solemn tribute to the London dead.

Across the nation, shops, offices, factories, radio and television studios went quiet.

As Big Ben tolled the 12 strokes of noon, the queen stood in silence outside Buckingham Palace, while across Britain and Europe millions paused in a collective expression of solidarity, grief and anger.

In London, crowds streamed into Trafalgar Square for the observance.

"It's important to show solidarity at a time like this," Michael Newport, an executive at Westminster City Council, said after paying his respects in the square.

Just before noon, a voice announced on the loudspeaker: "Please join us in observing 2 minutes' silence."

One of the mourners at the square, 25-year-old Fabio Medeiros from north London, said that his wife had been near the site of the King's Cross blast on Thursday.

"I wanted to come along today to celebrate the lives of those who have been killed," he said.

Waves of spontaneous applause broke out across the capital following the silent tribute.

"London will remember all of those who died last Thursday and show its defiance of those who try to change the character of our city through terror," said mayor Ken Livingstone.

"London will not be moved from our goal of building an open, tolerant, multiracial and multicultural society showing the world its future," he added.

All bombers are British Muslims

A week after the attacks, Britain is still coming to terms with the discovery that all four bombs appear to have been suicide blasts, each perpetrated by British Muslims of Pakistani origin.

Since the news emerged on Tuesday, newspapers have been filled with details about the seemingly ordinary lives lived by the three bombers named earlier, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Mir Hussain, 18, and Mohammed Sadique Khan, 30.

The fourth suspect was identified as a Jamaican-born Briton, according to Sky Television report Thursday citing a senior security source.

"The teacher. The teenager. The graduate," ran headlines in the Daily Mirror above pictures of the three men and paragraphs detailing their thoroughly normal public existences in the northern city of Leeds.

Sky named the fourth suspect as Lindsey Germail and said he was in his 30s. He was linked to a house in Aylesbury, about 65 kilometres northwest of London, searched by police on Wednesday evening, Sky said. The BBC gave his name as Lindsey Germaine, as did the New York Times, citing American law enforcement officials.

Sky said the suspect had links to the region of West Yorkshire where the three other suspected bombers lived. Asked about the reports, London police said they had not released details of the suspect.

Reports: Mastermind identified

Police are reportedly convinced that the men, none of whom had previously-known terrorist links, were co-ordinated by a "mastermind" figure, who equipped them with bombs and provided training and funds.

According to Thursday's edition of The Times, police have already identified the man thought to be the mastermind.

The British-born man in his 30s, also of Pakistani origin, arrived at a British port last month and left the country again the day before the attacks, the newspaper reported.

Other titles warned that security camera footage at the railway station in Luton, north of London, where the attackers congregated before heading into London, had picked up a possible fifth bomber.

This man, also assumed to be of Pakistani origin, could still be in London and planning to carry out an attack, the reports said.

Blair to meet UK Muslim leaders

In his weekly question and answer session in parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair said his government would begin talks with British Muslim leaders about combating the "poisonous and perverted misinterpretation of the religion of Islam."

This theme was taken up by heir to the British throne Prince Charles, writing in Thursday's Daily Mirror newspaper.

It is the "duty of every true Muslim" to condemn last week's suicide bombings, he said.

Muslims in Britain, of whom there are about 1.5 million, with 675,000 of Pakistani origin, must "root out those among them who preach and practise such hatred and bitterness", he added.

Source: China Daily