ADDRESSING the TUC conference in Brighton a visibly shaken Tony Blair offered deepest sympathy and condolences to the people of America.

He said: "It is a most terrible and shocking event. We can only imagine the terror and the carnage there. many, many innocent people will have lost their lives.

"This kind of terrorism is the new evil in our world today and is perpetrated by fanatics with an utter indifference to the sanctimony of

human life."

Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw said: "The world will be watching these pictures from the US with absolute horror. There can be no

justification for these appalling acts of terrorism. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of these atrocities.

"We in Britain have offered whatever help we can to the American government to bring the perpetrators to justice and I have passed our

condolences to the US Secretary of State Colin Powell."

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "We offer our profound sympathies to the US public and to the families of the countless numbers that

must have been killed and injured in this blatant set of attacks.

"The international democratic community must come together as never before to see down the forces of sheer evil that perpetrate such crimes."