Manchester terror attack: What we know so far

Members of the public receive treatment from emergency
service staff near the Manchester Arena following the
attack

Here is the latest on the terror attack after an Ariana
Grande concert at Manchester Arena.

• Police have confirmed that 22 people have died, including
  children, and 59 people are injured.
• The explosion happened in the arena’s foyer at around 10.30pm
  as people began exiting at the end of the concert.
• The attacker died at the scene. He was carrying an improved
  explosive device which he detonated.
• Police do not yet know if he acted alone or was part of a
  network.
• The bomber was reportedly carrying a rucksack.
• Eyewitnesses described hearing a one big explosion and seeing
  nuts and bolts strewn on the floor.
• Around 21,000 people were reported to have been at the sold-out
  concert.
• Sixty ambulances attended and the wounded were taken to eight
  hospitals around Greater Manchester.
• Greater Manchester Police are treating the explosion as a
  terrorist attack.
• Prime Minister Theresa May has suspended election campaigning
  and was due to chair a meeting of the emergency committee Cobra at
  9am.
• A cordon is in place around Manchester Arena and Victoria
  Station.
• All train services to Manchester’s Victoria Station have been
  cancelled.
• Anyone with images or footage that could help the police
  investigation should upload it to ukpoliceimageappear.co.uk.

At least 22 people were killed and 60 more wounded by a suicide
bomber at the Manchester Arena last night. The blast occurred at
10.33pm, at the end of a concert by the American singer Ariana
Grande.

“Children and teenagers are feared among the dead and injured
because of the very young demographic of the pop star’s fans, with
desperate parents and relatives waiting through the night for news
of loved ones,” The Independent reports.

The blast “left carnage inside the concert venue”, says The Guardian. “Medics described treating wounds
consistent with shrapnel injury”.

“People were just lying on the floor, people with massive,
massive injuries,” one witness said. “It was utter chaos.”

General election campaigning has been suspended and Theresa May
will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee
later today.

“We are working to establish the full details of what is being
treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack,” the Prime
Minister said. “All our thoughts are with the victims and the
families of those who have been affected.”

Greater Manchester Police confirmed a few moments ago that the
attack was carried out by one man carrying an “improvised explosive
device”, and that he had died at the scene. Chief Constable Ian
Hopkins said officers were working to establish whether he had
received assistance.

“The blast was relatively small,” BBC correspondent Matthew Price told the Today
programme. “It did a lot of damage in a small area, because a lot
of people were packed into that area.” 

The death toll makes it “the worst event of its kind in Britain
since the 7/7 bombing in 2005, which hit London’s transport
network, killing 52 people,” The Guardian reports.

Grande, 23, who was not injured in the blast, has suspended her
world tour and released a brief statement.

broken.
from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have
words.

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) May 23, 2017

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, said the “barbaric attack” had
been intended to “sow fear”.

“Its intention is to divide. But it will not succeed,” Rudd
said.