In the London newspapers this morning, the front pages reflect on the horror of the attacks themselves, and begin to turn to the hunt for the bombers and the ongoing search for the missing.
The Guardian leads on the death toll passing 50, and quotes Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan police commissioner, who said rescuers are involved in a "job of extraordinary horror". The paper prints a powerful account from Sergeant Steve Betts of the British Transport Police, who was one of the first rescuers to reach the stricken Piccadilly line train deep under King's Cross.
"I thought, this is the worst thing I have ever seen. I am not very good in confined spaces at the best of times and we had to climb over bodies and body parts to try to help people who were still alive. I though this is the end of the world, right here in this carriage, but you have to do your job."
The Sun brings pictures of two of the missing together on its front page – Laura Webb and Shahara Islam, alongside the words: "Two beautiful, decent women. One Christian. One Muslim. Both missing with dozens more. Pray for them all." The Independent focuses on Shahara on its front page, saying she was "a devout Muslim with all her life before her".
It continues: "…now this young woman, who so confidently straddled the twin cultures of her mosque and her city, is missing. She is feared dead, a victim of the horrific violence wreaked on London this week, almost certainly by the terrorists of al-Qaida, murdering and maiming in the name of her death".
The Times front page has no headline, just the numbers 7/7. "Of all the agonies that an outrage creates, the worst is not knowing. It is almost beyond that of loss and grows in the silence of an unanswered telephone," writes Alan Hamilton. The Star pictures 19 of the missing on its front page: "Young, vibrant… every creed, every colour. The lost of London's bombing," says the paper.
The Daily Mail profiles the missing on pages two and three, with pictures of 17 missing and two of the relatives who, yesterday, travelled London attempting to find news of their loved ones. The paper calls their search "a poignant echo of the Walls of Tears after 9/11 and the Tsunami [as] desperate relatives plead for news". The paper also asks if Moroccan Mohammed al-Gerbouzi, "a father of six who has a British passport after being granted asylum in the mid-1990s", is the "mastermind" of the plot. He is already wanted for questioning over last year's bombings in Madrid, the paper reports.
The Daily Telegraph leads (reg required) on the defiant note sounded by the Queen yesterday during her visit to the Royal London Hospital in the east end. The paper reports that, at the end of her visit, she made an unexpected speech. "They will not change our way of life," she told staff.
The Telegraph also reports (reg required) the findings of a YouGov poll conducted immediately after the bombings, which shows 87% of Britons believe British Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding. Attitudes to British forces' involvement in Iraq have not moved, although Tony Blair's standing has risen. But fears that militant Islamic groups pose a threat to the west have grown.
The Daily Express puts a large picture of the destroyed number 30 bus on its front page taken, it says, 30 seconds after the bomb went off. It shows a scene of carnage, the bus driver walking towards the wreckage at the back of the vehicle, but with survivors on the top deck standing up. 13 people were killed by this bomb, the paper reports.
The Financial Times, meanwhile, warns the tube bombers "could strike again". A senior British security official is quoted as saying: "We are working on the assumption that those responsible for the bombings are still out there and could do it again. As a result, it's a huge national police operation with the help of foreign police forces."
