Email traffic doubled after London bomb blasts

Concerned emailers asking 'are you OK?'

Email traffic has doubled in Europe today after four bombs exploded in central London.

A snapshot of email activity from security company MessageLabs found the number of customer emails it monitored grew from the average of 500,000 to one million an hour after terrorist attacks began.

Alex Shipp, senior antivirus technologist for MessageLabs, said: "Sometime after 09:00(BST) we saw email traffic rise. That's ignoring spam - that's half a million legitimate emails an hour up to one million.

"We don't know what the traffic is but we're guessing that it's 'are you OK?' and 'have you seen the news?' messages. But that's based on the emails we've been getting."

Vodafone, the UK's largest mobile operator, is asking customers to avoid using their phones following the attacks. All the UK's mobile phone networks were intermittently crippled by the sudden rise in concern calls and texts earlier today.

An unknown group dubbed 'the Secret Group of al Qaeda's Jihad in Europe' is reported to have posted a message on a website claiming responsibility for the attacks. London police said no groups have contacted them claiming responsibility.

Sky News has reported that 45 people were killed this morning after three bombs exploded on the London Underground train network and a fourth detonated on a double-decker bus. As many as 300 casualties have been reported so far.

Tony Blair has condemned the attacks while other leaders of the G8 countries, who are currently meeting in Scotland, supported the Prime Minister.

London mayor Ken Livingstone has described the attacks as an "indiscriminate attempt at mass murder".