The front pages of London’s morning newspapers on Friday. (Reuters)

London, July 8 (Reuters): British newspapers today marked London’s bloodiest peacetime attack with sombre front pages that struck a defiant tone.

“Our spirit will never be broken,” said Britain’s top-selling Sun tabloid, calling yesterday’s rush-hour bombings “56 minutes of hell”.

“In the name of New York, Washington, Bali, Nairobi, Madrid and now London, we shall have vengeance and justice,” the Sun said in an editorial, reflecting on a worldwide conflict littered with many tombstones.

“We Britons will never be defeated,” said the Daily Express, which devoted 35 pages to the attacks that killed at least 37 people and wounded about 700 when three explosions tore through crowded London Underground trains and another ripped the roof off a double-decker bus.

Bloodied commuters staggered from stations, their heads swathed in bandages, their eyes glazed in shock.

Witnesses painted a graphic picture of what they saw as Armageddon on the streets of London. Rail passenger Sarah Childs told how she saw a woman dying on the track as commuters tried to resuscitate her. “I will never forget the sight of that woman as long as I live,” she said.

In graphic, staccato sentences, they relived their worst nightmares. “I thought I was going to burn alive in that tunnel,” said one survivor. “I saw a lady ripped to pieces,” said another.

Editorials recalled how dogged Londoners faced the Blitz in World War II. “Just like their predecessors in the face of those earlier horrors, today’s generation of Londoners responded to this latest unprovoked act of evil with a combination of calm and courage,” The Guardian said.

The Daily Telegraph said: “It is a dark day from which we will emerge stronger ... Al Qaida brings terror to the heart of London.”

The Daily Express launched a telephone poll, bluntly asking readers: “Should terrorists be executed?”