http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/7772871?source=ReutersAs many as seven people are feared dead and up to 100 injured after three explosions rocked Istanbul. One blast has destroyed part of the HSBC Bank headquarters and a second has hit the British consulate.
Men and women wept on the street, nursing their wounds, and bodies lay amid wreckage outside the HSBC building. CNN-Turk television said many were badly wounded in the blast at the British consulate.
A security guard said at least three people were killed at the HSBC building. The third explosion was in a residential area.
Mr Straw was asked if the attack would affect President Bush's visit to London.
He replied: "Of course this will be a major subject of discussion between Prime Minister Blair and President Bush. It will feature at their press conference at 12.15pm.
"We have been alive to potential threats from terrorists for many years in this country and we take every step we can to deal with it."
Mr Straw said he "disagreed profoundly," with the assertion by one reporter that the war in Iraq had done nothing to lessen the threat of attacks.
"What people have got to remember is that September 11 happened in 2001 and not in 2003. It was planned under the Presidency of Bill Clinton, even if it was
executed under the Presidency of George W Bush.
"And there were scores and scores of the most serious terrorist outrages before it was necessary to take military action in Iraq and afterwards."
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