A SUICIDE bomber has killed 22 people, including children, as an explosion tore through fans leaving a pop concert in Manchester.

Some 59 people were also injured when the blast caused by an improvised explosive device carried by the attacker detonated at the Manchester Arena.

A 23-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the bomb attack.

The Queen has expressed her "deepest sympathy" to all those affected by the Manchester bomb attack, adding that "the whole nation has been shocked by the death and injury".

​Announcing that the death toll had risen, Greater Manchester Police chief constable Ian Hopkins said: "What I can confirm is that there are children among the deceased."

He said: "This has been the most horrific incident we have had to face in Greater Manchester and one that we all hoped we would never see.

"Families and many young people were out to enjoy a concert at the Manchester Arena and have lost their lives.

Condemning the atrocity, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "This was a barbaric attack, deliberately targeting some of the most vulnerable in our society - young people and children out at a pop concert."

She added: "The great city of Manchester has been affected by terrorism before. Its spirit was not bowed; its community continued.

"This time it has been a particular attack on the most vulnerable in our society - its intention was to sow fear - its intention is to divide. But it will not succeed."

"Our thoughts are with those 22 victims that we now know have died, the 59 people who have been injured and their loved ones.

"We continue to do all we can to support them."

Mr Hopkins said a "fast-moving investigation" had established the attack was conducted by one man, although detectives are working to establish if he was "was acting alone or as part of a network".

"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."

Witnesses reported hearing a "huge bomb-like bang" at around 10.30pm on Monday, as fans were leaving the arena shortly after a show by Ariana Grande finished, and described glass and metal nuts on the floor.

The Prime Minister has condemned the "appalling" incident and General Election campaigning has been suspended.

Downing Street said a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee is expected to take place at around 9am on Tuesday morning chaired by Theresa May.

Grande, the US singer who finished performing minutes before the blast, said she had been left "broken" by the events.

Police say a number of people have died in a reported explosion at Manchester Arena pic.twitter.com/yEYF7tVVWF — Press Association (@PA) May 22, 2017

Robert Tempkin, 22, from Middlesbrough, said: "Everyone was screaming and running, there were coats and people's phones on the floor. People just dropped everything.

"Some people were screaming they'd seen blood but other people were saying it was balloons busting or a speaker had been popped.

"There were lots of ambulances. I saw somebody being treated. I couldn't tell what had happened to him."

A family from Newcastle said they were missing two family members and had been unable to contact them.

A middle-aged woman said her partner, aged 32, and daughter, 19, were outside the arena to pick up her younger daughter who attended the concert.

She said: "There was a bang, a massive explosion". They have not been seen or heard of since and are not answering their phones.

A father described seeing "carnage everywhere" in the wake of an explosion at Manchester Arena that left around 30 people, including children and disabled victims, lying on the floor.

The man, named Andy, said he was blown "about 30ft" by a blast that shook the building as he waited to collect his wife and daughter at the end of a concert by US artist Ariana Grande.

He said he later saw panicking families trying to find loved ones in the wake of the incident on Monday night.

He said: "It's shocking what happened. Just carnage everywhere. There was a good 20 to 30 of them [victims]. Some were young kids, some were disabled people."

Andy said he helped emergency services treat the wounded who were "scattered" by a blast near a box office.

He said: "As I was waiting an explosion went off and it threw me through the first set of doors about 30ft to the next set of doors.

"When I got up and looked around there was about 30 people scattered everywhere, some of them looked dead, they might of been unconscious but there was a lot of fatalities.

"My first thing was to run in the stadium to try and find my wife and daughter.

"When I couldn't find them I looked back outside and the police, fire and ambulance were there and I looked at some of the bodies trying to find my family.

"Luckily they weren't there, I managed to find them outside the arena and got them back to the hotel."

this experience was absolutely horrible however the concert was amazing!!!! i bloody love ariana but this just ruined. #DangerousWomanTour pic.twitter.com/gXgFVIOKco — princess~kye~kye (@crazy_kyia) May 22, 2017

One fan at the concert described how the explosion hit the venue as fans were leaving the building.

Majid Khan, 22, said: "I and my sister, along with a lot of others were seeing Ariana Grande perform at Manchester Arena, and we were all exiting the venue when around 10.40-10.45pm-ish a huge bomb-like bang went off that hugely panicked everyone and we were all trying to flee the arena.

"It was one bang and essentially everyone from the other side of the arena where the bang was heard from suddenly came running towards us as they were trying to exit Trinity Way and that was blocked so everyone was just running to any exit they could find as quickly as they could.

"Everyone was in a huge state of panic, calling each other as some had gone to the toilet whilst this had gone off, so it was just extremely disturbing for everyone there."

Jade Baynes, 18, from Hull, was told to run from the area by armed police after leaving the concert arena.

She said she heard loud bangs and what sounded like gunshots just after the entertainment had finished.

She added: "There were just a loud bang and a flash and everyone tried to scramble out.

"An alarm came on telling everyone to stay calm but leave as quickly as possible."

Jade and her friend Jasmine Mia, 21, also from Hull, said there appeared to be some sort of commotion in the first tier of the arena, with a number of stewards stood around the seats.

Armed police have now swamped the streets around the arena and police are moving members of the public away from the area.

Oliver Jones, 17, was at the concert with his 19-year-old sister.

He said: "I was in the toilet and heard a loud bang just after the concert had finished and people had started to leave.

"The bang echoed around the foyer of the arena and people started to run.

"I seen people running and screaming towards one direction and then many were turning around to run back the other way.

"Security was running out as well as the fans and concert goers.

"Reports of blood and people injured."

He added: "In so much shock and panic. You see this on the news all the time and never expect it to happen to you. I just had to run and make sure me and my sister were safe."

Footage posted online by one concert-goer shows fans filing out of the building while an announcer attempts to maintain calm.

The voice can be heard saying: "Ladies and gentleman, please take your time, there's no need to bunch up, there are no problems here - just take your time and keep exiting the building."

A barman at the nearby Steven Charles Snooker Club, who gave his name as Tyler, said he saw people lying on the ground covered in blood.

"We've had a few people in with panic attacks and in all kinds of disarray," he told Press Association.

"We've got four girls here - trying to get them sorted to get picked up.

"There was a gentleman on the floor with his leg all bleeding and woman with blood down one side of her face.

"We felt something but didn't know what it was - there was a sound like thunder.

"One girl had a panic attack and another had streaming tears, a woman had a heart attack just outside.

"It's a lot of teenagers - they're all in tears."

Suzy Mitchell, 26, whose flat is opposite the venue, reported a huge bang rocking the neighbourhood.

She said: "(I) just heard a huge bang from my bed, came out to the front of my apartments (we're on the top floor so have perfect view) and everyone was running away in big crowds.

"The bang was so big I heard it from my room which is at the back of the apartment blocks.

"Currently lots of emergency services going to and from. But can't see anything substantial as of yet except fleeing people and lots of cars."

Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram tweeted: "My 2 daughters caught up in the Manchester explosion at the arena. They are thankfully safe, but I fear for others."

He posted later: "Confirmed deaths at the Manchester arena. Feel sick to think that people have lost their lives at a gig attended by so many young people.

"All my thoughts go out to those parents waiting to hear of the safety of their children. It's a parents worse nightmare. So, so sad."

A woman who said she worked at the arena as staff but did not want to be named said: "All I know is it sounded like a bomb."

Another concert-goer, a woman with her husband and three young children, said as the concert ended here was a loud bang and everyone leaving the venue then rushed back in.

She said: "I just freaked. Everyone started screaming. We did not see any explosion but it smelt bad, like burning."

Several people on the streets who had been to the gig were visibly upset and in tears and did not want to speak.

Twelve children under the age of 16 were among the 59 casualties taken to hospital after the terror attack.

David Ratcliffe, medical director of the North West Ambulance Service, said 12 patients were taken by ambulance to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

It is not known how many children were among walking wounded who went to hospitals.

In a statement read outside the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Jon Rouse, Chief Officer of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, expressed "deep condolences" to the victims and their families.

He said: "It's been a terrible night and morning in terms of Greater Manchester. Although we have also seen some of the best aspects of Greater Manchester and the people who live there as well."

Emergency numbers have been established for anyone who is concerned for their loved ones who may not have returned home, these numbers are 0161 856 9400 or 0161 856 9900</s>British police said an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena killed 22 people, including children, and injured 119. (Published Wednesday, May 24, 2017)

At least 22 people including children were killed and more than 50 injured in a suspected suicide bombing at Manchester Arena at the end of an Ariana Grande concert Monday night, British police said.

Ian Hopkins, chief constable of the Greater Manchester police, told reporters that officials are treating the incident as a terrorist attack. He added that it is believed a single attacker carried and detonated an improvised explosive device around 10:33 p.m. local time and then died at the arena.

Hopkins said officials are now working to establish if the attacker was part of a network or acted alone, adding that more than 400 officers have been deployed in the "fast-moving" investigation. A 23-year-old man was arrested in South Manchester in connection with the bombing, police said Tuesday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May early Tuesday called the attacker a "terrorist" who acted "to cause maximum carnage and kill and injure indiscriminately."

She said the incident is "amongst the worst terrorist incidents we have ever experienced in the United Kingdom" and "stands out for its appalling, sickening cowardice."

May added that authorities believe they know the identity of the attacker but did not confirm the name.

The government was expected to call an emergency Cabinet meeting.

Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham called the incident the "darkest of nights" and "an evil act."

"Manchester is today waking up to the most difficult of dawns," Burnham told reporters.

Multiple U.S. officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News that preliminary reports indicate the explosion took place outside the arena on the southwest side, opposite the Manchester Victoria transit station, which is part of the greater arena complex.

Photo credit: Google Earth, NBC

If the incident is confirmed as a terrorist attack it would be the most deadly in Britain since the London subway bombings in 2005.

Concertgoers described the scene after the explosion.

Majid Khan, 22, said, "a huge bomb-like bang went off that hugely panicked everyone and we were all trying to flee the arena."

"It was one bang and essentially everyone from the other side of the arena where the bang was heard from suddenly came running towards us as they were trying to exit," he told Britain's Press Association.

Initial reports from the scene relayed to U.S. officials note that a number of the casualties may be from the stampede that occurred after the incident, according to NBC News.



Late Monday, Grande tweeted: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words."

Joseph Carozza, a representative from Grande's record label, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times that the singer is OK and they are investigating what happened.

Other public figures and politicians, including President Donald Trump, responded to the attack as well.

On social media, people shared videos of people rushing from the arena and ambulances arriving.

“I just heard a loud bang right after the concert," Ivo Delgado told NBC News. "Only heard one. People started screaming and going to the other side of the arena. When we left [the main arena] there was smoke and people lying on the floor."

Video from inside the arena showed concertgoers screaming as they made their way out amid a sea of pink balloons.

Many on Twitter were using the hashtag #RoomForManchester to offer spare rooms or other resources. Several hotels in the area were among those offering a room to those stranded in the area, the Manchester Evening News reported.

Hopkins said emergency numbers have been set up for people concerned about their loved ones, and he encouraged anyone to send video or photos that may help in the investigation.

Facebook activated its Safety Check feature for people to mark themselves as safe or check on friends or loved ones.

The Dangerous Woman Tour is the third concert tour by Grande to support her third studio album, "Dangerous Woman." The tour began on February 3, 2017, in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Talking Stick Resort Arena.

From Manchester, the tour is to move through Europe, including Belgium, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and France, through the summer with stops in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico and on to Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia and more. There was no immediate word from Grande's team on the upcoming stops.

Manchester Arena, which can hold 21,000 people, is the largest indoor arena in Europe, according to its website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 10 Philadelphia</s>"We are currently treating this as a terrorist incident until we have further information," Hopkins said, as aired by the Sky News broadcaster.

Hopkins added that the police were working with local and national agencies to support those who suffered in the explosion and with "national counter-terrorism police… and UK intelligence partners."

The explosion that occurred on Monday night, at the end of the show of US singer Ariana Grande, left at least 19 people dead and about 50 injured.
The GMP confirms at least 19 people have been killed and 50 others injured and is treating the incident as a terrorist attack. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility.