Manchester terror attack: Police name bomber, hunt for accomplices

Manchester: Police on Tuesday named a young man -- reportedly British-born of Libyan descent -- as the suspect behind a suicide bombing that ripped into young fans at a concert in Manchester, as the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the carnage.

Manchester police identified the suspect behind the attack which killed 22 people, including an eight-year-old girl, as 22-year-old Salman Abedi but declined to give any further details.

British media said he was born in the northwestern English city and that his Libyan parents had fled the regime of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

"The priority remains to establish whether he was acting alone or as part of a network," Manchester police chief constable Ian Hopkins told reporters.

Prime Minister Theresa May vowed "terrorists will not prevail". The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which came just over two weeks before Britain votes in a general election and is the latest in a series of deadly incidents across Europe.

Those incidents, including vehicle-borne assaults in Berlin and Stockholm, have coincided with an offensive on IS redoubts in Syria and Iraq by US, British and other Western forces.

Threatening more attacks, IS said in a statement published on its social media channels: "One of the caliphate's soldiers placed bombs among the crowds."

The attack came at the conclusion of US pop star Ariana Grande's concert late Monday at the Manchester Arena, one of Europe's largest indoor venues.

Witnesses described the horror when the suicide bomber blew himself up and anguished parents appealed for information on their loved



ones, as Mancunians opened their doors to shelter people lost in the confusion, and taxi drivers offered free rides.

"When we left, down the stairs there was probably early teenagers lying on the floor covered in blood and blood on the walls where they'd been laid, so it was just horrifying," female concert-goer Alex Grayson told AFP.

Police staged an armed raid on a Manchester address believed to be where Abedi lived, carrying out a controlled explosion to gain entry after arresting a 23-year-old man earlier Tuesday in connection with the attack.

"A single terrorist detonated his improvised explosive device near one of the exits of the venue, deliberately choosing the time and place to cause maximum carnage and to kill and injure indiscriminately," May said after an emergency ministerial meeting.

She said during a visit to Manchester that police would look at the security of such venues, while the government would also review police resources.

Some at the concert said there had been no security checks when they entered, and police promised extra measures at setpiece events coming up such as Saturday's FA Cup football final.

Campaigning for the June 8 election was suspended by the main parties after the attack and May insisted the country stood tall as defiant chants broke out at a vigil held in central Manchester on Tuesday evening.

'Broken' 

Screaming fans, many of them teenagers, fled the 21,000-capacity Manchester Arena in panic after the explosion at the end of Monday's performance by the 23-year-old Grande, a former child television star who described herself as "broken" by the attack.