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Manchester Arena Suicide Bombing: 22 Die in Suicide Bombing May 22, 2017, 6:00 PM CDT / Updated May 23, 2017, 11:45 AM CDT By Eoghan Macguire, Alexander Smith, Jason Cumming and Alex Johnson

MANCHESTER, England — Children were among the 22 people killed in a suicide attack after an Ariana Grande concert at Britain's Manchester Arena, police confirmed Tuesday. Meanwhile, authorities identified the suicide bomber responsible for the carnage as 22-year-old Salman Abedi and warned angry residents against any reprisals.

"We understand that feelings are very raw right now and people are looking for answers," Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said. "We will not tolerate hate towards any parts of our community."

Abedi had a British passport, sources told NBC News, but it was not immediately clear where he was born. (He was of Libyan ancestry.) He was killed when he detonated an improvised explosive device near one of the venue's exits at 10:33 p.m. local time Monday, officials said.

The pop star's fan base is primarily girls and teenagers, so the venue was packed full of families. While Hopkins did not identify any of the dead, 8-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos' death was confirmed by her school. Some 59 other people were wounded, including some who suffered life-threatening injuries, officials said. And thousands of grieving Manchester residents were expected to attend a vigil at 6 p.m. local time Tuesday to remember the victims.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack but provided no evidence and neither U.S. nor British officials have corroborated that.

The blast sparked a nightlong search for loved ones as frantic parents tried to locate their children, and groups of friends scattered by the explosion sought each other. Video shot inside the 21,000-capacity venue showed terrified teenagers screaming as they made their way out amid a sea of pink balloons. Some fans were still wearing the singer and former Nickelodeon TV actress' trademark kitten ears as they fled.

"We have been treating this as a terrorist incident," Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told reporters. "Our priority is to establish whether he was acting alone or as part of a network." Rohit Kachroo, security editor for NBC News' U.K. partner ITV News, reported that nuts and bolts were spotted in the arena's foyer but police would not comment on whether victims had suffered wounds from shrapnel. Police said the explosion took place outside the arena catching people as they exited, also triggering chaos inside the venue. U.S. officials said initial reports indicated that some of the injuries might have been caused by a stampede of concertgoers.

Nicola Murray, who was at the concert with her 12-year-old daughter Olivia, told NBC News that she witnessed "a red-orange-looking flash" and heard an "incredibly loud bang." "Within seconds, as you can imagine, it was chaos and people were panicking and running to try and get out the door," she said. "We were getting swept with the people 2 crushing to get out and I was terrified my daughter would get crushed. At one point, she was getting dragged away from me but I managed to pull her into me and force her in front of me while trying to direct her to the door and down the steps.”

Murray, who had traveled to the concert from the Scottish town of Hamilton, said the area outside the venue was "full of people who were completely traumatized — kids and adults alike all crying, screaming, some still running away ... adults in cars who were due to be picking up kids screaming trying to find them."

Alison Pritchard, 34, who works as a waitress, recalled hearing "an almighty explosion behind us." Her friend Carole Taylor, a 49-year-old teacher, told NBC News she turned around to see "this plume of smoke coming over and all this sort of debris and embers floating from the roof." "When it exploded, it just rocked your whole body," she said. "It went right through us. People started screaming."

Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool, told NBC News his two daughters and two nieces were at the show. They described "pandemonium" at the scene with "people climbing over seats to get to exits [and] obviously there were a lot of young girls so there was a lot of screaming and panic," he said. However, Rotheram's four relatives managed to escape safely. Hopkins, the police chief, confirmed that children were among the dead and warned of "difficult days ahead." C She added: "This attack stands out for its appalling, sickening cowardice — deliberately targeting innocent and defenseless young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives.”

Police said emergency services received 240 calls after the incident and victims were taken to eight hospitals. At least a dozen people aged under 16 were hospitalized. Jon Rouse, a local health official, said the wounded included "a number of individuals who have very, very serious injuries ... and people who are going to be in hospital for a long time."

Grande, 23, tweeted early Tuesday: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words." In a statement, the pop star's manager Scooter Braun thanked first responders "who rushed towards danger to help save lives." He added: "We ask all of you to hold the victims, their families and all those affected in your hearts and prayers."

Bianca Landrau, the Boston hip-hop star known as Bia, who also performed, tweeted: "Guys we are okay!!!" And singer Victoria Monét, the opening act, said in a statement that she was safe but "heartbroken that loved ones who came to have the night of their lives ended up losing them." "I wish I could say that I am OK, but I am not," she wrote, adding: "Please send all your prayers up high for Manchester." MAY 23, 201703:59

Britain's terrorist threat level stands at "severe," the second-highest rung on a five-point scale, meaning an attack is highly likely.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump's national security team was keeping him up to date while he is in Israel. Speaking after meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on Tuesday, Trump blamed "evil losers" for the attack, adding that he won't call terrorists "monsters" as "they'd think 3 that's a great name." He added: "We cannot stand for a moment longer for the slaughter of innocent people." The Department of Homeland Security stressed that there was no information to indicate a specific credible threat involving U.S. music venues. AY23, Manchester Arena, which opened in 1995, is one of the largest indoor venues in Europe. More than 1 million people fill its seats every year. It is located near the Manchester Victoria transit station.

Local families offered beds for the night to people who had been affected by the explosion, and taxis provided free rides. A statement issued by Muslim organizations in the Manchester area said the community was “saddened and horrified" by the attack. It added: “The perpetrators, whoever they may be, must bear the full consequences of their actions.” This was Britain's deadliest terrorist attack since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on three subway trains and a bus in July 2005.

Manchester is located 160 miles northwest of London. It was hit by a huge Irish Republican Army bomb in 1996 that leveled a swath of the city center. More than 200 people were injured in that attack, though no one was killed.

Everything we know about Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi

By: Martin Evans, Victoria Ward, Robert Mendick, Ben Farmer, Hayley Dixon, Danny Boyle 26 MAY 2017 • 3:28PM

Su icide bomber Salman Abediis believed to have travelled to Syria and become radicalised before returning to the UK to cause carnage at a gig in the city where he was born.

The son of Libyan parents, who reportedly fled their native country and sought refuge in the UK, he is thought to have come back to Britain from Libya just days before the massacre. Here's everything we know about the 22-year-old Manchester Arena attacker.

What is his family background?

Born and raised in Manchester in 1994, Abedi, the second youngest of four children, grew up in a Muslim household but matured into a university dropout with an appetite for bloodshed.

His parents, mother Samia Tabbal and father Ramadan Abedi, a security officer, are Libyan-born refugees who fled to the UK to escape Gaddafi. It is thought they returned in 2011 following Gaddafi’s overthrow.

Abedi is thought to have an older brother Ismail Abedi, who was born in Westminster in 1993, a younger brother Hashim Abedi, and a sister Jomana, whose Facebook profile suggests she is from Tripoli and lives in Manchester.

A family friend, who asked not to be named, said the family were known to the Libyan community in the city and described Abedi as "normal".

He told the Press Association: "He was always friendly, nothing to suggest (he was violent). He was normal, to be honest." 4 Abedi is believed to have attended the Manchester Islamic Centre, also known as the Didsbury Mosque. Sheikh Mohammad Saeed said he believed Abedi had displayed a "face of hate" after the imam gave a sermon denouncing terrorism.

Abedi's education

Abedi went to Burnage Academy for Boys between 2009 and 2011, and then on to Salford University in 2014 where he studied business management before dropping out, according to a source. The source said Abedi began his course in 2014 and attended lectures for two years but then stopped going. He would have graduated this summer.

He did not live in university accommodation, had not been in any trouble at the university and was not on any radar for pastoral or social care. It is understood Abedi was not known to have participated in any clubs or societies during his time in higher education and never met with the resident imam.

Where did he live?

He was registered as living at the Abedi family home Elsmore Road, south Manchester as recently as last year, where plainclothes police raided a downstairs red-bricked semi-detached property on Tuesday. Neighbours recalled an abrasive, tall, skinny young man who was little known in the neighbourhood, and often seen in traditional Islamic clothing. He is thought to have lived at a number of addresses in the area, including one in Wilbraham Road, where officers arrested a man on Tuesday. Abedi previously lived with his parents and a brother.

What have the neighbours said?

Neighbours in Elsmore Road told how Abedi had become increasingly devout and withdrawn. Lina Ahmed, 21, said: “They are a Libyan family and they have been acting strangely. A couple of months ago he [Salman] was chanting the first kalma [Islamic prayer] really loudly in the street. He was chanting in Arabic. “He was saying ‘There is only one God and the prophet Mohammed is his messenger’.’

A family friend, who described the Abedis as “very religious”, said most of the family had returned to Libya, leaving only Salman and his older brother Ismail behind.

“They have not been there for quite a while. Different people come and go,” said Alan Kinsey, 52, a car-delivery driver who lives across the street. Mr Kinsey’s wife, Frances, 48, a care worker, said she believed that the parents had left before Christmas and just one or two young men had been living in the property. Mr Kinsey said a huge flag, possibly Iraqi or Libyan, had been hanging from their house. “There was a large Iraqi flag hanging out the window but we never thought anything or it,” added Mr Kinsey, “We thought it was about football or a protest at home or something.”

How did he become radicalised?

Abedi has "proven" links with Islamic State, according to France's interior minister. Gerard Collomb told French television that both British and French intelligence services had information that Abedi had been in Syria. Mr Collomb said: "All of a sudden he 5 travelled to Libya and then most likely to Syria, became radicalised and decided to commit this attack."

Abedi had been a "regular kid", who went out and drank until around a year ago when he "dropped off the radar", the Times reported the bomber's former landlord's nephew as saying. The paper quoted a friend as saying he had returned from a three-week trip to Libya in recent days. Abedi's trips to Libya are now subject to scrutiny including links to jihadists.

A group of Gaddafi dissidents, who were members of the outlawed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), lived within close proximity to Abedi in Whalley Range. Among them was Abd al-Baset Azzouz, a father-of-four from Manchester, who left Britain to run a terrorist network in Libya overseen by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s successor as leader of al-Qaeda. Azzouz, 48, an expert bomb-maker, was accused of running an al-Qaeda network in eastern Libya. The Telegraph reported in 2014 that Azzouz had 200 to 300 militants under his control and was an expert in bomb-making.

How was he identified?

It has emerged in US media reports that the bomber was identified by a bank card in his pocket. According to NBC News, citing a US intelligence official, members of the bomber's family warned security officials about him in the past, saying that he was “dangerous”. The official told the broadcaster that Abedi likely "had help" making the “big and sophisticated bomb".

Has his family spoken?

Speaking for the first time about his son's death, Abedi's father said: "We don't believe in killing innocents. This is not us." Speaking from Tripoli, he told AP this his son was innocent and confirmed that British police had arrested another of his sons, believed to be a 23-year-old arrested in south Manchester on Tuesday.

Abedi's sister, Jomana, suggested he carried out the attack for revenge on US air strikes in Syria. “I think he saw children—Muslim children—dying everywhere, and wanted revenge," she told the Wall Street Journal. "He saw the explosives America drops on children in Syria, and he wanted revenge. Whether he got that is between him and God.”

His brother Hashim reportedly knew he was planning the attack. "His brother felt there was something going on there in Manchester and he thought his brother would do something like bombing or attack. So after that, he told us, 'Having internet, I see the attack in Manchester and I knew that's my brother'," a spokesman for Libyan authorities told BBC2's Newsnight.

He revealed that Abedi's younger brother Hashim had been investigated for about a month and a half over suspicions that he was linked to IS.

"We were not quite sure about this, but when we arrested and we asked him, he told us, 'I have ideology with my brother'. Hashim told us, 'I know everything about my brother, what he was doing there in Manchester'."

6 Terrorism Final Project Directions: After carefully reading the above information about the Manchester Arena Suicide Attack you will write a 5 paragraph essay detailing the who, what, when, where, and why of the attack. Please read the rubric below completely before you begin. Remember to use your own words.

Category 4 Advanced 3 Proficient 2 Basic 1 Below Basic

Focus The writing is clear Sometimes the writing The writing is not clear The writing did not stay and completely moved away from the and drifted away from focused on the topic. The answers all parts of the main point of focus of the topic.(3-4 writing is very difficult to prompt. (All the topic. (1-2 paragraphs stray off of understand or follow. paragraphs on topic) paragraphs stray off of topic) (All paragraphs off of topic) topic or missing details)

Organization There is a strong The paragraphs are not The writing is not There is no introduction, body, in a logical order OR organized and is introduction, body, or and conclusion. There portions of the writing missing paragraphs. conclusion. There are are appropriate need strengthened. There are no many mixed-up ideas. transitions to connect Some transition words transition words. There are no ideas. are used. transition words.

Style The beginnings of There is some variation There is very little All of the sentences sentences are varied in the beginning of variation in the begin the same and/or and sentences vary in sentences and sentence beginning of sentences are structured the same. structure. Word choice structure. Some vivid and sentence structure. No descriptive words is vivid and descriptive and descriptive word Very few descriptive are used in writing. throughout writing. choices. words are used.

Conventions There are no There are very few There are many There is an excess of Spelling, spelling, spelling, errors in spelling, spelling, punctuation, Punctuation, punctuation, or punctuation, or punctuation, or or grammar errors in Grammar grammar errors in grammar errors in grammar errors in writing. ( 10 or more) writing. writing. ( 1-3) writing. ( 4-9)

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