Rucksack bomb made to kill largest number of innocents, inquest is toll

Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi carried a rucksack packed with a “massive number” of small metal objects which “flew through the air at high velocity in all directions” when detonated, a court has heard.

The inquests into the deaths of the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena terrorist attack were told the improvised explosive device contained in the bag he was carrying on his back appeared to be “designed to kill and maim indiscriminately the largest number of innocent people”.

Senior coroner for Manchester Nigel Meadows opened the inquests as brief summaries to the background circumstances of each of the fatalities was outlined. None of the families of the deceased attended the hearing at Manchester Civil Justice, which lasted just short of a hour, and was preceded by a minute’s silence for the victims.

A photograph of each of the victims was shown on a large screen along with their dates of birth and then a map which pinpointed Abedi, 22, in the middle of the large foyer area of the indoor arena and where each person was when he detonated the device.