Britain raises terror threat to critical
Prime Minister Theresa May calls prospect of a wider plot ‘possibility we cannot ignore’
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND— Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain’s threat level from terrorism has been raised to critical — meaning an attack may be imminent. May announced the move after chairing an emergency meeting of her security cabinet and concluding that the attacker who carried out Monday’s bombing may have been part of a wider network that is poised to strike again.
The worst terrorist attack on British soil in more than a decade was carried out by a 22-year-old British citizen who lived a short drive from the concert hall that he transformed from a scene of youthful merriment into a tableau of horror.
But whether Salman Abedi acted alone or with accomplices remained a question that British investigators were urgently trying to answer Tuesday night as they reckoned with an attack more sophisticated and worrisome than any seen here in years.
The prospect of a wider plot, May said, was “a possibility we cannot ignore” and investigators hunted for possible accomplices of the suicide bomber.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the carnage, which counted children as young as 8 among its victims and left 59 people wounded. British police raided two sites in the northern English city and arrested a 23-yearold man at a third location.
May and police said the bomber died in the attack on Manchester Arena — a detail that was not included in the Daesh claim, which also had discrepancies with the events described by British officials.
But unlike in previous high-profile attacks, including one in March in which an assailant driving a speeding car ran down pedestrians on a London bridge, then stabbed to death a British police officer, experts said it was unlikely that Monday’s attack had been carried out without help.
“Getting a car or a knife is easy,” said Raffaello Pantucci, a terrorism expert at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. “Making a bomb that works and goes off when you want it to go off takes preparation and practice. And it usually involves other people.”
Pantucci said British authorities “are going to try to figure out who (Abedi) knows, who he’s linked to. Did he build the bomb itself, or did someone build it and give it to him?”
Campaigning for Britain’s June 8 national election was suspended in the aftermath of the attack, the deadliest in Britain since suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on subway trains and a bus in 2005.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II marked a moment of silence Tuesday afternoon to honour the victims. Accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, as well as Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Queen stood at the top of the steps leading down from Buckingham Palace as the national anthem played.
U.S. President Donald Trump, visiting the West Bank city of Bethlehem, said the attack preyed upon children and described those responsible as “evil losers.”
“This wicked ideology must be obliterated. And I mean completely obliterated,” he said.
After Manchester, Grande was due to perform in London on Thursday and Friday, and later at venues elsewhere in Europe, including Belgium, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and France, with concerts in Latin America and Asia to follow.
Grande’s tour has not been cancelled or postponed despite reports online, said a person close to the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the topic. The Manchester Arena postponed concerts by the pop group Take That scheduled from Thursday through Saturday.
The band, which had already cancelled its Tuesday show in Liverpool, said it was postponing the Sunday performance “out of respect to all of the people and their families that were affected by the horrific incident last night.”
Blondie also cancelled its Tuesday night concert in London “as a mark of respect for the victims of the terrible attack.” Lead singer Debbie Harry tweeted that the Round Chapel date will be rescheduled.