WASHINGTON — Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was yards away from one of the deadly explosions that struck London yesterday, said the attacks were an eerie reminder of Sept. 11, 2001.

Giuliani said he was in a hotel near Liverpool Street Station when a bomb exploded on a train in a tunnel nearby.

"It was very strange being here today and being a block or half a block away when the bomb went off," he said.

"We were in a hotel having breakfast when it happened, and we were told originally that it was either an accident or a device, and then obviously when the second attack happened, we knew," Giuliani said.

The former mayor noted the time of day was almost identical to the 2001 attacks, beginning about ten minutes before 9 a.m. and ending before 10 a.m.

"I told the prime minister and the head of the fire department that it's the same perplexing thought and feeling, which is why do these innocent people have to be killed? The people who were killed were people who were on their way to work in virtually the same time frame as the attacks on Sept. 11," he said.

The mayor praised Londoners' response to the attacks, saying he was struck by how quickly they tried to resume a semblance of normalcy.

Giuliani, who received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his post-Sept. 11 leadership, left his post as mayor in 2002.

U.S. detainees won't

be told of bombings

GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — Some 520 terror suspects imprisoned here will not be told about yesterday's bombings in London, the commander of the detention camp said.

The detainees have been told about some news events, such as the Dec. 26 tsunami and earthquake that killed more than 176,000 people in 11 countries in Asia and Africa, Gen. Jay Hood said.

"Obviously this appears to be a terrorist-related incident, and for some of the enemy combatants we are holding, they would view this as encouraging," Hood said. "They would view this as part of another jihadist attack on the West ... So this is not the sort of current world event we would share with the detainees."

Hood declined to say whether there would be any attempts to collect intelligence from detainees about the attack.

Many of the detainees have been at the U.S. Naval base for more than three years, with little contact with the outside world. They can send and receive mail, which the military reads and sometimes edits for security purposes. The military posts some news headlines at some of the five prisons holding the suspects.

The prisoners, who come from more than 40 countries, are all suspected of ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network or Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime that sheltered it. Most have not been charged.

Nine British citizens were held at Guantánamo but all have been released.

What they said

"We Spaniards know well the suffering that the British people are going through today. We unite with their grief as they and so many other people united with ours."

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

"I grieve with all Londoners at the wounds that have been inflicted on this wonderful city — the city that is home to people from so many countries and cultures."

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan

"Lebanon, which has been the victim of violence for years, shares with the British their pain."

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

"This attack shows us once again that terrorism is not Israel's problem only."

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom