World leaders unite against 'evil crime'

World leaders united yesterday to condemn the attacks in Turkey and vowed to intensify the fight against terrorism.

Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, said: "Those who carried out these attacks have no respect for human life and we should condemn utterly their actions." He called for international co-operation as the "the only way we will succeed" in the fight on terrorism.

Vladimir Putin, Russia's President, called it "an evil crime and yet one more tragic proof that we must further combine our efforts in combating international terrorism".

In Germany, where police erected barriers around the British embassy in Berlin, the Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, said the bombing of synagogues "fills us with particular horror and outrage" and stressed that the fight against international terrorism and anti-Semitism "must be a collective effort of the international community".

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Prime Minister, said: "The strategy of hate and intimidation will not prevail and will not shift Turkey from its aim to be part of the European Union."

From the Vatican, Pope John Paul II urged "all men and women across the world to mobilise for peace and against terrorism".

The 19 Nato nations said in a statement that "the terrorists who carry out these atrocities will not succeed in their efforts to sow fear and division among the international community". At the European Parliament, MEPs stood for a minute in silence to commemorate the victims.

The European Commission president, Romano Prodi, visited a synagogue in Milan to express his sorrow, saying: "Now is not the time to give way to tears or accept as routine the mourning that is beginning to take over our everyday lives".

Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon said: "This is no longer just Israel, this is a threat to the entire free world."