Palestinian joy - global condemnation

Palestinian gunmen at refugee camps in Lebanon fired into the air in celebration yesterday as the rest of the world united in revulsion at the "monstrous" and "abhorrent" attacks in the US.


In the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, a gunman, firing celebratory rifle rounds, said: "This is God's revenge for America's support of Israel."

However, the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, watching events unfold with his advisers at his seaside office in Gaza City, was swift to con demn the assaults and to insist that he was ready to hunt down those responsible.

"We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable. It's touching our hearts. God help them. God help them," he said. Ashen-faced, he continued: "The Palestinian leadership declares its sorrow and unreserved condemnation of this. This crime is completely unacceptable."

The Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, described it an "abominable act of terrorism".

Condemnation also came from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement, which denied that Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, who is given shelter in the country, was responsible. "What happened in the United States was not a job of ordinary people. It could have been the work of governments," said a Taliban spokesman, Abdul Hai Mutmaen. "Osama bin Laden cannot do this work, neither us. We are not supporting terrorism."

Pakistan - one of only three countries in the world to recognise the Taliban religious movement - also condemned the attack, with General Pervez Musharraf, the military ruler, insisting, in a statement to President George Bush: "The world must unite to fight terrorism in all its forms and root out this modern-day evil."

But in Iraq, state television played a patriotic song that began, "Down with America!" as it showed the World Trade towers collapsing.

As the Pope spoke of the "unspeakable horror of today's inhuman terrorist attacks against innocent people in different parts of the US" and urged the world to pray for the nation "at this dark and tragic moment", the Nato secretary general Lord Robertson condemned "in the strongest possible terms the senseless acts which have just been perpetrated".

"These barbaric acts constitute intolerable aggression against democracy and underline the need for the international community and members of the alliance to unite their forces in fighting terrorism," he added.

The Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, condemned what he called "terrorist" attacks on the Islamic republic's arch-foe, and offered "deep sympathy" to the American nation.

In Spain, where the Basque separatist group Eta has carried out a campaign of car bombs, the prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, said: "We, who know well the insanity of terrorism, manifest our support and solidarity _ to all the citizens of the US."

In Russia, President Vladmir Putin appeared to draw parallels with terrorist atrocities in Chechyna. "Today's events in the United States overstepped national borders. This is a blatant chal lenge to humanity," he said.

In a note to President Bush, the Russian leader added: "We understand well your grief and pain. Without doubt, such inhumane acts cannot remain unpunished. The entire world community should pool efforts against terrorism."

The Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, expressed his sympathy to President Bush before setting up a crisis headquarters to coordinate the country's response to the assault on the country's closest military and financial ally.

China said it was "horrified".

Former South African president Nelson Mandela - due to fly to New York in the next few days - added to the tide of condemnation, and the Italian president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, reiterated calls for a joint international response to terrorism.

In Germany, where flags flew at half-mast over the parliament in Berlin, , the chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, told a news conference: "Whoever helps or protects these terrorists, violates all the fundamental values which make it possible for peoples to live together." The terrorist onslaught on the US risked paralysing the financial centre of continental Europe. The skyscrapers of Frankfurt, including the premises of the European central bank, were closed as a security measure.

In a live television address, France's president, Jacques Chirac, condemned the attacks as "monstrous".

The EU expressed shock at what it condemned as a "cowardly attack on innocent civilians", and the European commission president, Romano Prodi, said: "Europeans stand together with the US and all peace-loving peoples of the world in condemning and resisting terrorism in the strongest possible terms."