Kills 22 at Manchester concert
Islamic State claims responsibility; 23yrold plotter arrested
LONDON: Britain was in anguish on Tuesday after 22 people were killed and nearly 60 injured when a suicide bomber targeted a concert hall in Manchester, described as the worst terrorist attack in the country for more than a decade.
Victims included children – the youngest an 8-year-old girl – and teenagers who had gathered for a sell-out concert in the Manchester Arena (capacity: 21,000) by popular US singer Ariana Grande.
Political parties suspended campaigning for the June 8 election and investigators hunted for accomplices of the bomber, identified as 22-year-old Salman Abedi. BBC said the individual was “British or UK born”.
One 23-year-old man was arrested in Chorlton, south Manchester, in connection with the incident. Hours later, police set off a controlled explosion and raided a house in Elsmore Road, about 6 km from the arena.
The country was struggling to come to terms with the tragedy claimed by the so-called Islamic State, as Britain remained at the threat level of ‘severe’, which officially means a terror attack is ‘highly likely’. In London, Scotland Yard stepped up its presence in public places and reviewed its plans for several public events planned over the summer.
A spokesman of the Indian high commission told Hindustan Times there was no information of any Indian casualty, but added a list of nationalities of the victims was awaited from police.
A response unit has been set up by the mission.
India’s President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi condemned the attack.
Queen Elizabeth said: “The whole nation has been shocked by the death and injury in Manchester last night of so many people, adults and children, who had just been enjoying a concert”.
The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the blast with a ‘home-made device’ was carried out by one individual.
It was the first terror attack on this scale since the July, 2005, serial blasts across London’s transport network, killing more than 50 people.
Prime Minister Theresa May chaired an emergency meeting -called Cobra -- in Downing Street and later addressed the nation, announcing that many of the injured had “life-threatening injuries”.
Parents, relatives and friends of those missing desperately toured eight hospitals where the injured were taken, and announced their details on social media.
May, who was scheduled to hold another Cobra meeting after a visit to Manchester, said: “We struggle to comprehend the warped and twisted mind that sees a room packed with young children not as a scene to cherish but as an opportunity for carnage…There will be difficult days ahead”.
Ariana Grande, the 23-yearold singer, said on Twitter she was “broken from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have word”.
The city’s football team, popular worldwide as the Red Devils, expressed sorrow, saying the victims were in the “minds and hearts” of the squad preparing for Wednesday’s Europa League final against Ajax in Stockholm.