Manchester Arena bombing

The Manchester Arena bombing was a suicide bomb attack that occurred in Manchester, England, on the 22 May 2017. Twenty-three people were killed, including the bomber.

Incident
The incident, described as a "huge bang", resulted across the Manchester Victoria railway station's services being blocked. Police described the reports as a "serious incident".

Mayor of Liverpool Steve Rotheram was present at the concert with his family.

At approximately 01:35 BST, a controlled explosion was conducted by police in Cathedral Gardens after what was believed to be an explosive device was found. The item was determined to be harmless clothing that was left behind.

Police were first treating this as a possible but unconfirmed terrorist attack done by a suicide bomber until confirmed as a suicide bombing hours later.

The bombing is the first terrorist attack to occur in the United Kingdom since the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

Attacker
The suicide bomber, Salman Ramadan Abedi, was a 22-year-old British citizen of Sunni Islam faith and was known to British security services. He was born in Manchester on 31 December 1994 to a family of refugees from Libya who had settled in south Manchester. The lone male was reported to have carried out the attack using an improvised explosive device in an act of a suicide attack.

Reactions
The event took place just over two weeks before a general election in the United Kingdom. Both Prime Minister and Conservative leader Theresa May, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron quickly condemned the incident, expressed sympathy for the victims, and praised the response of emergency services.

Condolences were expressed by the leaders and governments of many countries: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Pope Francis, and Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Yousef Al-Othaimeen.

President Donald Trump condemned the attack and wrote on Twitter: "We stand in absolute solidarity with the people of the United Kingdom." Trump also commented on the events whilst on a visit to Israel, calling the perpetrator(s) "evil losers."

A one-minute silence was observed at 11.00am (BST) Thursday 25 May 2017.