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Bombing at Manchester Arena kills 22 people and injures over 50 others

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    • This post is no longer being updated. Updates from May 24 are available here.
    Police have confirmed at least 22 people were killed and 59 others injured in an apparent suicide bombing at an arena in the city of Manchester in north west England. The attack occurred around 10:30 pm on Monday, May 22 just after the conclusion of a pop concert. Greater Manchester Police chief constable Ian Hopkins said on Tuesday: “The attacker, I can confirm, died at the arena. We believe the attacker was carrying an improvised explosive device, which he detonated, causing this atrocity.” Hopkins named the suspected attacker as 22-year-old Salman Abedi, but said that his identity has not yet been confirmed by the coroner. Many news outlets are reporting that the incident was a suicide bombing, but whether Abedi intended to die in the attack is still uncertain. Greater Manchester Police, the National Counter Terrorist Policing Network and UK intelligence services are investigating the bombing as an act of terror. Police have arrested a 23-year old man in South Manchester in connection with the attack. On Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said investigators believe they know the identity of the bomber and are trying to determine if he was part of a larger network. Police said warrants were executed in Whalley Range and in Fallowfield. A controlled explosion took place during the Fallowfield operation. Police later clarified that the explosion was a breaching charge, used to gain entry to the property. One of the homes is believed to have been occupied by Abedi. Following an emergency meeting of the government’s crisis response committee, COBR or COBRA, May said on Tuesday night that the government will raise the threat level to critical from serious, meaning they believe another attack is imminent. “It is a possibility we cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack,” May said in a televised statement.

    First reports

    Manchester police said in a statement that they responded to reports of an explosion in the foyer of the arena just before 10:35 p.m. BST (2135 GMT) on Monday. Video and images posted on social media late Monday showed people screaming and running away in the aftermath of the initial incident. Manchester Arena is one of the biggest indoor venues in Europe with a capacity of around 21,000 for concerts. Many of the people inside the arena were young people attending a pop concert. Witnesses said they heard one or two loud bangs and saw a number of injured people. The injured are being treated at eight hospitals around Manchester. David Ratcliffe, medical director of North West Ambulance Service, said 12 children under the age of 16 were among the 59 people taken to hospital after the attack. Around 60 others were described as walking wounded. At 19, the death toll from the attack is the worst in the United Kingdom since the July 7, 2005 London bombing.

    Victims identified

    Family and friends remember the Manchester Arena victims
        

    As it happened: Live blog (archived)

    Updates archived in this liveblog are from May 22 to early on May 24.
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    Statement from Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, Head of National Counter Terrorism Policing: At this stage it is still not possible to be certain if there was a wider group involved in the attack; 24 hours in we have a number of investigative leads that we are pursuing to manage the ongoing threat.
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