LYON, France - INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble has pledged the organization’s full support in the response to the terrorist bomb attacks in central London.

The Secretary General has ordered that an INTERPOL Incident Response Team stand ready to travel to London and assist police and the INTERPOL National Central Bureau there if requested.

INTERPOL’s 24-hour Command and Co-ordination Centre in Lyon, France, along with all of INTERPOL’s National Central Bureaus and each of the organization’s six regional bureaus, are on high alert and will treat requests for assistance and information from British authorities with the highest priority.

All police messages to and from INTERPOL and its National Central Bureaus related to the London attacks will be handled with the highest priority. INTERPOL has asked police in all of its member countries to do the same with messages to or from the United Kingdom concerning Thursday’s explosions.

Immediately after the attacks, Secretary General Noble contacted the Head of the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in London, Ken Pandolfi, to assess the situation and co-ordinate the INTERPOL response. Mr Noble also contacted the Director of Europol, Max-Peter Ratzel, to ensure a co-ordinated response.

Officers in the organization’s Criminal Analysis Unit are examining all INTERPOL databases to determine whether any links can be drawn between this terrorist act and other previous incidents around the world.

Mr Noble said: 'I, along with INTERPOL President Jackie Selebi, absolutely deplore the attacks that took place today in London. We have made available all of INTERPOL’s resources in order to assist the British authorities and INTERPOL National Central Bureaus.

'Since 11 September 2001, INTERPOL has underlined that the global fight against terrorism knows no boundaries. An attack in one country is an attack on all and the emergency and police response must be international.

'Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those killed or injured in today’s attacks.'

In view of the fact that the targets included modes of transport used by visitors to London, INTERPOL is calling on its member countries outside of the UK to use INTERPOL’s official missing persons notice form to report anyone thought to be missing as a result of the attacks.