The number of Britons confirmed dead in the terrorist attacks in the United States is approaching 100, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday.
Straw told a London news conference that the final total of British deaths caused by Tuesday's terrorist strikes could approach the "middle hundreds" or more, AFP and the BBC quoted him as saying.
He added that he understood up to 100 Britons had already been identified and that Scotland Yard's casualty bureau was in the process of contacting the families of the dead.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced Wednesday that the British parliament is to be recalled for an emergency session Friday following the devastating terrorist strikes in the United States.
Recalls only happen at times at crisis and there have only been 18 since 1948, reported the BBC.online.
Blair is also expected to give some detail about the outcome of a Downing Street summit of senior ministers, intelligence chiefs and defense staff to review security measures for the UK.
That meeting in Downing Street broke up after just over an hour at about 0915 (GMT) on Wednesday.
Earlier, Straw said terrorism of the kind that caused the devastation in America could only be defeated by closer international cooperation, the news service quoted him as saying.
"This is an event that has not only shaken the world but also tragically has changed the world, he said.
Thousands of Americans are feared to have died after hijacked US airliners slammed into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon military headquarters near Washington D.C – Albawaba.com
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