UK PM May says to deploy armed forces after attack as threat level raised
LONDON/MANCHESTER, England, (Reuters) - Soldiers will be deployed to key sites in Britain to boost security as the country raised its terror threat to the highest level of “critical” following a suicide attack in Manchester that killed 22 people, including children.
Police yesterday said they believed British-born Salman Abedi, aged 22, carried out Britain’s deadliest bombing in nearly 12 years and Prime Minister Theresa May said another attack could be imminent.
U.S. security sources, citing British intelligence officials, said Abedi was born in Manchester to parents of Libyan origin.
May said it was possible a wider group was linked to the bombing at a crowded concert hall, prompting the increase in security a little more than two weeks before a national election.
An independent body which sets the threat level recommended it be raised to “critical” from “severe” for the first time since June 2007.
“This means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains highly likely but that a further attack may be imminent,” May said in a televised statement from her Downing Street Office after a meeting of the government’s crisis response committee.
“Armed police officers responsible for duties such as guarding key sites will be replaced by members of the armed forces ... You might also see military personnel deployed at certain events, such as concerts and sports matches.”
Britain’s top anti-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said events would only go ahead when it was safe to do so and the decision to raise the threat level had been made on a “precautionary basis” due to gaps in police knowledge while the investigation continues.
He told reporters he hoped that, as has previously been the case, the level would not stay at critical for a long period.
The Times newspaper reported that Abedi had arrived back in Britain from Libya recently. He is believed to have travelled by train from London before the attack, U.S. officials said.
The attacker set off his improvised bomb as crowds streamed out of the Manchester Arena after a pop concert by Ariana Grande, a U.S. singer especially popular with teenage girls.
Islamic State, now being driven from territories in Syria and Iraq by Western-backed armed forces, claimed responsibility for what it called a revenge attack against “Crusaders.” But there appeared to
be contradictions in its account of the operation.
Witnesses related the horror of the blast, which unleashed a stampede just as the concert ended at Europe’s largest indoor arena, full to its capacity of 21,000.
“We ran and people were screaming around us and pushing on the stairs to go outside and people were falling down, girls were crying, and we saw these women being treated by paramedics having open wounds on their legs ... it was just chaos,” said Sebastian Diaz, 19. “It was literally just a minute after it ended, the lights came on and the bomb went off.”
A video posted on Twitter showed fans, many of them young, screaming and running from the venue. Dozens of parents frantically searched for their children, posting photos and pleading for information on social media.
Singer Grande, 23, said on Twitter she was devastated: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.” She returned to the United States on Tuesday, Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper reported, as questions lingered over whether she would continue her European tour.