Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain's threat level from terrorism has been raised to critical - meaning an attack may be imminent.May says Salman Abadi, the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a concert in Manchester, may have been part of a bigger network.She said Abadi was born and raised in Britain.The level previously stood at the second-highest rung of "severe" for several years.May said critical status means armed soldiers may be deployed instead of police at public events such as sports matches.Investigators hunted Tuesday for possible accomplices of the suicide bomber who attacked an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, killing 22 people and sparking a stampede of young concertgoers, some still wearing the American pop star's trademark kitten ears and holding pink balloons.An 8-year-old girl, Saffie Roussos, was among the dead - the youngest known victim - and her mother and sister were among 59 people wounded in what British Prime Minister Theresa May called "a callous terrorist attack." The wounded included 12 children under age 16, hospital officials said.The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Monday night carnage, but a top American intelligence official said the claim could not be verified. British police raided two sites in the northern English city, setting off a controlled explosion in one, and arrested a 23-year-old man in a third location there.British Prime Minister Theresa May and police said the bomber died in the attack on Manchester Arena - something that went unmentioned in the Islamic State claim, which also had discrepancies with the events described by British officials.Manchester police chief Ian Hopkins identified the bombing suspect as 22-year-old Salman Abedi. British election rolls listed Abedi as living at a modest red brick semi-detached house in a mixed suburb of Manchester where police performed a controlled explosion Tuesday afternoon.Neighbor Natalie Daley said she was frightened by a loud bang, then police yelling "get in your houses - get away from the windows!""When it's like two seconds from your house, when you walk past it every day, you do live in fear," Daley said.Manchester, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northwest of London, is one of Britain's largest cities and Manchester Arena is one of the world's largest indoor concert venues.The attack was the deadliest in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on subway trains and a bus in July 2005. Campaigning for Britain's June 8 national election was suspended.Teenage screams filled the arena just after the explosion Monday night, and members of the audience tumbled over guardrails and each other to escape.The attack sparked a nightlong search for loved-ones - parents for the children they had accompanied or had been waiting to pick up, and friends for each other after groups were scattered by the blast. Twitter and Facebook lit up with heartbreaking appeals for the missing."We struggle to comprehend the warped and twisted mind that sees a room packed with young children not as a scene to cherish but as an opportunity for carnage," May said.The top U.S. intelligence official, Dan Coats, said the American government had not verified whether or how Islamic State was responsible.Some concert-goers said security was haphazard before the show, with some people being searched and others allowed inside unhindered. The bombing took place at the end of the concert, when the audience was streaming toward the city's main train station.Witnesses said the blast scattered bolts and other bits of metal, apparently intended to maximize injuries and deaths."There was this massive bang. And then everyone just went really quiet. And that's when the screaming started," said 25-year-old Ryan Molloy. "As we came outside to Victoria Station, there were just people all over the floor covered in blood. My partner was helping to try to stem the blood from this one person ... they were pouring blood from their leg. It was just awful."As police shut down public transport, Manchester residents opened their hearts. Taxis offered to give stranded people free rides home while some residents opened their homes to provide lodging. Twitter users circulated the MissinginManchester hashtag to help people looking for family and friends.Grande, who was not injured in the blast, tweeted: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words."Hayley Lunt had taken her 10-year-old daughter Abigail to her first concert. She said the explosions rang out as soon as Grande left the stage."We just ran as fast as we could to get away," Lunt said. "What should have been a superb evening is now just horrible."----------</s>Britain was braced for further terrorist attacks following the Manchester atrocity as Theresa May said the threat level was being raised to its highest possible rating.

In a live televised statement from Downing Street, the Prime Minister said the terror threat level would be increased to “critical”, meaning an attack was expected imminently as it was possible a “wider group of individuals” could have been involved in the Manchester Arena attack rather than just suicide bomber Salman Abedi.

In a sign of the increased threat, the military could be deployed to support armed police officers, Mrs May said.

Monday night’s attack at a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande left 22 people dead, including an eight-year-old girl, and dozens injured.

Speaking at Number 10, Mrs May said: “The spirit of Manchester and the spirit of Britain is far mightier than the sick plots of depraved terrorists. That is why the terrorists will never win and we will prevail.”

Mrs May will chair a meeting of the Government’s emergency Cobra committee at 9.30am on Wednesday, Downing Street has announced.

The suicide bomber has been named as Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old man believed to have been born in Manchester and of Libyan descent.

Abedi studied business at Salford University but dropped out before completing his degree.

He is thought to have attended the Manchester Islamic Centre, also known as Didsbury Mosque, along with his parents and siblings.

A family friend, who asked not to be named, described him as “normal” and said they were known to the Libyan community in the city.

He told the Press Association: “He was always friendly, nothing to suggest (he was violent). He was normal, to be honest.”

Abedi was named after armed officers carried out a raid on the red brick semi in south Manchester where he was registered as living.

The terror threat level was increased after investigations revealed Abedi may not have acted alone.

Mrs May said: “The work undertaken throughout the day has revealed that it is a possibility we cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack.

“This morning I said that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, the independent organisation responsible for setting the threat level on the basis of the intelligence available, was keeping the threat level under constant review.

“It has now concluded, on the basis of today’s investigations, that the threat level should be increased for the time being from severe to critical.

“This means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains highly likely, but that a further attack may be imminent.”

The Prime Minister said Operation Temperer – allowing military personnel to take to the streets – was now in force.

“This means that armed police officers responsible for duties such as guarding key sites will be replaced by members of the armed forces, which will allow the police to significantly increase the number of armed officers on patrol in key locations.

“You might also see military personnel deployed at certain events such as concerts and sports matches, helping the police to keep the public safe.”</s>One day after a bombing claimed at least 22 lives at a concert venue in Manchester, England, Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that the U.K. is raising its terror threat level. The move, declared Tuesday evening, means members of the British military will be deployed throughout the country to supplement its police forces.

"It is a possibility we cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack," May said. "It is now concluded, on the basis of today's investigations, that the threat level should be increased for the time being — from 'severe' to 'critical.' "

She added: "This means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains highly likely, but that an attack may be imminent."

The announcement comes just hours after police identified a suspect — 22-year-old Salman Abedi — and ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing. Greater Manchester Police also announced Tuesday that they had "arrested a 23-year-old man" in connection with Monday's bombing.

Dozens of concertgoers were also injured in the attack at the Manchester Arena at the end of an Ariana Grande show.

The BBC reports this is only the third time the U.K. has reached the highest terror threat level under its alert system — and the first since 2007.

In her brief speech Tuesday, May said the police request for military support "is part of a well-established plan known as Operation Tempora, in which both the armed forces and the police officers involved are well-trained and well-prepared to work in this kind of environment."

She laid out what to expect from the operation:



"This means that armed police officers responsible for guarding key sites will be replaced by members of the armed forces, which will allow the police to significantly increase the number of armed officers on patrol in key locations. "You might also see military personnel deployed at certain events such as concerts and sports matches, helping the police to keep the public safe. In all circumstances, members of the armed forces who are deployed in this way will be under the command of police officers."



NPR's Bill Chappell has more on the Manchester attack — everything that we know, as of Tuesday evening — right here.</s>MANCHESTER, England, May 24 (Reuters) - Soldiers were being deployed to key sites in Britain on Wednesday to prevent attacks after the terror threat level was raised to its highest level following a suicide bombing in Manchester that killed 22 people, including children.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced late on Tuesday that the threat level was now considered "critical", meaning an attack may be imminent.

Police had earlier named British-born Salman Abedi, 22, as the perpetrator of the bombing at the Manchester Arena indoor venue at the end of a concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande on Monday, attended by thousands of children and teenagers.

The bombing wounded 59 people. Some have life-threatening injuries.

"This is a fast moving investigation and we continue to have significant resources in place," Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling of Greater Manchester Police said.

"Raising the threat level to critical ... will support our ongoing operation," he said in a statement.

The Manchester attack was the deadliest in Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London's transport network.

U.S. security sources, citing British intelligence officials, said Abedi was born in Manchester to parents of Libyan origin.

May said it was possible a wider group was linked to the bombing, prompting the deployment of troops a little more than two weeks before a national election.

An independent body which sets the threat level recommended it be raised to "critical" from "severe" for the first time since June 2007.

"This means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains highly likely but that a further attack may be imminent," May said in a televised statement from her Downing Street Office after a meeting of the government's crisis response committee.

"Armed police officers responsible for duties such as guarding key sites will be replaced by members of the armed forces ... You might also see military personnel deployed at certain events, such as concerts and sports matches."

Britain's top anti-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said events would only go ahead when it was safe to do so and the decision to raise the threat level had been made on a "precautionary basis" due to gaps in police knowledge while the investigation continues.

He told reporters he hoped that, as has previously been the case, the level would not stay at critical for a long period.</s>MANCHESTER, England >> As officials hunted for accomplices of a suicide bomber and Britain’s prime minister warned another attack could be “imminent,” thousands of people poured into the streets of Manchester in a defiant vigil Tuesday for victims of a blast at a pop concert — the latest apparent target of Islamic extremists seeking to rattle life in the West.

The attack left at least 22 dead, including an 8-year-old girl, shattering the revelry at a show by American singer Ariana Grande, where strains of electric pop and the sways of innocent young fans quickly gave way to an explosion, a flood of screams and a stampede of panicked concert-goers, many clutching pink balloons and wearing the kitten-ear headbands popularized by Grande.

Touching on that disconnect, British Prime Minister Theresa May said: “We struggle to comprehend the warped and twisted mind that sees a room packed with young children not as a scene to cherish but as an opportunity for carnage.”

May said Britain’s terror threat level had been raised to critical — meaning another attack may be imminent. The status means armed soldiers could be deployed instead of police at public events including sports matches. The threat level had been at the second-highest rung of “severe” for several years.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the blood bath Monday, though a top American intelligence official said the assertion could not be verified. Manchester Police Chief Ian Hopkins identified the bomber as 22-year-old Salman Abedi, who authorities said died in the attack. Police raided two sites in the northern English city, setting off a controlled explosion in one, and arresting a 23-year-old man in a third location.
• PHOTOS: 22 dead, dozens more injured in suicide bombing at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester

May said Abedi was born and raised in Britain and a European security official said he was of Libyan descent. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on ongoing investigations.

At least 20 heavily armed, helmeted police surrounded a modest red brick house listed as Abedi’s address in a mixed Manchester suburb at midday on Tuesday and blasted down the door.

“It was so quick. These cars just pulled up and all these police with guns, dogs, jumped out of the car and said to us: ‘Get in the house now,’” said Simon Turner, 46, who lives nearby. Later, forensic officers in white coveralls were seen going in and out of the property.

Details on Abedi were slow to trickle out. He was described by neighbors as a tall, thin young man who often wore traditional Islamic dress, but few said they knew him well.

Alan Kinsey, 52, who lives across the street, said his neighbor would often get picked up by another young man in a Toyota and often returned late at night. “I thought he worked in a takeaway or something” because of his late hours, Kinsey said.

Police also searched an apartment in a nearby area that British media reported belonged to Abedi’s brother, Ismail.

Late Tuesday, thousands of people, some holding up signs proclaiming “I Love MCR” — an abbreviation for Manchester — held a moment of silence at a vigil for the victims. Lord Mayor Eddy Newman and the city’s police chief were among the speakers in front of City Hall in Albert Square, where a banner with a website for a Muslim group said “Love for all, Hatred for None.”

May called raising the country’s terror threat level and deploying soldiers to patrol key sites a “proportionate and sensible response” to the suicide bombing. There are two major sports events in London on Saturday, with Wembley Stadium hosting soccer’s FA Cup final, which Prince William is due to attend, and Twickenham hosting rugby’s Premiership final.

Monday’s bombing made Manchester Arena, one of the largest indoor concert venues in Europe, the latest apparent target of Islamic extremists striking at the heart of Western culture, an ideology baffling to the panicked young faces emerging from the concert.

Among those confirmed killed was Georgina Callander, whose death was reported by her former school, which posted a photo of her in her school uniform on its website and described her as a “lovely” and “very popular” young woman. Also killed was 8-year-old Saffie Roussos, who a teacher called “simply a beautiful little girl in every aspect of the word” who was warm, kind, “and unassuming, with a creative flair.”

The little girl’s mother and sister were among the 59 wounded, which included at least 12 children under the age of 16.

Grande, who was not injured in the blast, tweeted: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”

The bombing took place after Grande closed the show with “Dangerous Woman” and left the stage and the audience streamed toward the city’s main train station. It scattered bolts and other metal scraps, apparently intended to maximize the bloodshed. People tumbled over guardrails and one another clawing toward an escape.

“There was this massive bang. And then everyone just went really quiet. And that’s when the screaming started,” said 25-year-old Ryan Molloy. “As we came outside to Victoria Station, there were just people all over the floor covered in blood.”

The attack sparked a nightlong search for loved-ones — parents for the children they had accompanied or had been waiting to pick up, and friends for each other after groups were scattered by the blast. Twitter and Facebook lit up with heartbreaking appeals for the missing.

“I’ve called the hospitals. I’ve called all the places, the hotels where people said that children have been taken and I’ve called the police,” Charlotte Campbell tearfully told ITV television’s Good Morning Britain breakfast show. Campbell’s 15-year-old daughter, Olivia, had attended the show with a friend who was wounded and being treated in a hospital.

“She’s not turned up,” Campbell said of her daughter. “We can’t get through to her.”

Hayley Lunt, who brought her 10-year-old daughter Abigail to the show, her very first concert, said they ran as fast as they could once the explosions rang out. “What should have been a superb evening,” Lunt said, “is now just horrible.”

Some concert-goers said security had been haphazard before the show, with some people being searched and others not. However, authorities would not say whether the bomber blew himself up inside or outside the arena, so it wasn’t clear if rigorous bag screening or additional security would have helped prevent the deaths and injuries. The venue tweeted on Monday night that it happened “outside the venue in a public space.”

Around the United Kingdom and across Europe, the attack brought fear and mourning.

At Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II marked a moment of silence alongside her husband Prince Philip as well as Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. In Rome, the lights of the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain were darkened.

U.S. President Donald Trump, on a visit to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, called the perpetrators “evil losers” and said “this wicked ideology must be obliterated.”

Manchester, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northwest of London, is one of Britain’s largest cities. The attack was the deadliest in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on subway trains and a bus in 2005.

Islamic State’s claim of responsibility echoed others the group has made for attacks in the West but with vague details that left open the possibility it was an opportunistic attempt at propaganda. Manchester itself has seen terror before, but not this deadly. The city 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, although no one was killed.

The bombing also elicited painful memories of the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, where most of the 130 killed were at the Bataclan concert hall.

Hui reported from London. Contributing to this report were Gregory Katz, Brian Rohan, Paisley Dodds, Lisa Leff and Sophie Berman in London; John Leicester and Lori Hinnant in Paris; Eric Tucker in Washington; and Matt Sedensky in New York.</s>British Prime Minister Theresa May announced Tuesday that the country’s terror threat level has been raised to its highest level based on evidence gathered during the investigation of the deadly attack at a Manchester Ariana Grande concert, signifying that another attack may be imminent.

"The threat level should be increased, for the time being, from severe to critical," May said, adding the assessment is "a further attack may be imminent."

Raising the country's threat level means that armed military personnel will replace police officers at some public events, such as sports matches, according to May.

"It is a possibility we cannot ignore, that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack," she added.

UK TERROR THREAT LEVELS: WHAT DO THEY MEAN?

Based on intelligence provided by the British, a U.S. government official told Fox News the evidence points to a suspect who was "coached or trained on line or in person" to carry out the attack.

The official described the bomb placement to Fox News as “perfect” to maximize casualties, which required planning.

Earlier on Tuesday, British authorities identified the suicide bomber who launched a deadly attack at the concert, hours after the Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility for the blast.

TRACING THE MANCHESTER BOMBER: WAS HE PART OF A NETWORK?

Salman Abedi, 22, was identified as the man who detonated an improvised explosive device at about 10:30 p.m. local time Monday, killing more than 20 people, some of them children, and injuring dozens more, Manchester police confirmed in a news conference on Tuesday. At least 12 children under the age of 16 were injured, emergency responders said. An 8-year-old girl was among the dead.

May said Abadi was born and raised in Britain.

It was previously reported that Abedi was 23, but police clarified that another 23-year-old man was arrested. Two warrants have been issued at two separate residences. Officers used a police-controlled explosive device to gain entry into one home.

ISIS claimed on Tuesday that "a soldier of the caliphate planted bombs in the middle of Crusaders gatherings" then detonated them, but Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said that the U.S. had not yet verified that the terror group was responsible.

TRUMP CALLS ON ALLIES TO 'OBLITERATE THIS EVIL IDEOLOGY' AFTER MANCHESTER BOMBING

The explosion unfolded outside Manchester Arena as Grande’s concert was coming to a close. The pop star, who wasn’t injured, reportedly suspended her Dangerous Woman Tour following the attack. She wrote on Twitter, "broken. from the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don't have words."

Officials believe the device was packed with shrapnel, built to inflict as much human damage as possible, according to U.S. law enforcement sources. Manchester police said one of their priorities is to investigate whether the attacker acted alone or had some kind of support.

Around the United Kingdom and across Europe, the attack brought fear and mourning. At Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II marked a moment of silence along her husband Prince Philip as well as Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. In Rome, the lights of the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain were darkened.

While on a visit to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, President Donald Trump called the perpetrators "evil losers" and said "this wicked ideology must be obliterated."

Manchester, located 160 miles northwest of London, is one of Britain's largest cities. The attack was the deadliest in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on subway trains and a bus in 2005.

The claim of responsibility by ISIS echoed others the group has made for attacks in the West but with vague details that left open the possibility it was an opportunistic attempt at propaganda.

Manchester itself has seen terror before, but not this deadly. The city 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, although no one was killed.

The bombing also elicited painful memories of the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, where most of the 130 killed were at the Bataclan concert hall.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Jake Gibson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>MANCHESTER, England (AP) — As officials hunted for accomplices of a suicide bomber and Britain’s prime minister warned another attack could be “imminent,” thousands of people poured into the streets of Manchester in a defiant vigil Tuesday for victims of a blast at a pop concert — the latest apparent target of Islamic extremists seeking to rattle life in the West.

The attack left at least 22 dead, including an 8-year-old girl, shattering the revelry at a show by American singer Ariana Grande, where strains of electric pop and the sways of innocent young fans quickly gave way to an explosion, a flood of screams and a stampede of panicked concert-goers, many clutching pink balloons and wearing the kitten-ear headbands popularized by Grande.

Touching on that disconnect, British Prime Minister Theresa May said: “We struggle to comprehend the warped and twisted mind that sees a room packed with young children not as a scene to cherish but as an opportunity for carnage.”

May said Britain’s terror threat level had been raised to critical — meaning another attack may be imminent. The status means armed soldiers could be deployed instead of police at public events including sports matches. The threat level had been at the second-highest rung of “severe” for several years.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the blood bath Monday, though a top American intelligence official said the assertion could not be verified. Manchester Police Chief Ian Hopkins identified the bomber as 22-year-old Salman Abedi, who authorities said died in the attack. Police raided two sites in the northern English city, setting off a controlled explosion in one, and arresting a 23-year-old man in a third location.

May said Abedi was born and raised in Britain and a European security official said he was of Libyan descent. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on ongoing investigations.

At least 20 heavily armed, helmeted police surrounded a modest red brick house listed as Abedi’s address in a mixed Manchester suburb at midday on Tuesday and blasted down the door.

“It was so quick. These cars just pulled up and all these police with guns, dogs, jumped out of the car and said to us: ‘Get in the house now,’” said Simon Turner, 46, who lives nearby. Later, forensic officers in white coveralls were seen going in and out of the property.

Details on Abedi were slow to trickle out. He was described by neighbors as a tall, thin young man who often wore traditional Islamic dress, but few said they knew him well.

Alan Kinsey, 52, who lives across the street, said his neighbor would often get picked up by another young man in a Toyota and often returned late at night. “I thought he worked in a takeaway or something” because of his late hours, Kinsey said.

Police also searched an apartment in a nearby area that British media reported belonged to Abedi’s brother, Ismail.

Late Tuesday, thousands of people, some holding up signs proclaiming “I Love MCR” — an abbreviation for Manchester — held a moment of silence at a vigil for the victims. Lord Mayor Eddy Newman and the city’s police chief were among the speakers in front of City Hall in Albert Square, where a banner with a website for a Muslim group said “Love for all, Hatred for None.”

May called raising the country’s terror threat level and deploying soldiers to patrol key sites a “proportionate and sensible response” to the suicide bombing. There are two major sports events in London on Saturday, with Wembley Stadium hosting soccer’s FA Cup final, which Prince William is due to attend, and Twickenham hosting rugby’s Premiership final.

Monday’s bombing made Manchester Arena, one of the largest indoor concert venues in Europe, the latest apparent target of Islamic extremists striking at the heart of Western culture, an ideology baffling to the panicked young faces emerging from the concert.

Among those confirmed killed was Georgina Callander, whose death was reported by her former school, which posted a photo of her in her school uniform on its website and described her as a “lovely” and “very popular” young woman. Also killed was 8-year-old Saffie Roussos, who a teacher called “simply a beautiful little girl in every aspect of the word” who was warm, kind, “and unassuming, with a creative flair.”

The little girl’s mother and sister were among the 59 wounded, which included at least 12 children under the age of 16.

Grande, who was not injured in the blast, tweeted: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”

The bombing took place after Grande closed the show with “Dangerous Woman” and left the stage and the audience streamed toward the city’s main train station. It scattered bolts and other metal scraps, apparently intended to maximize the bloodshed. People tumbled over guardrails and one another clawing toward an escape.

“There was this massive bang. And then everyone just went really quiet. And that’s when the screaming started,” said 25-year-old Ryan Molloy. “As we came outside to Victoria Station, there were just people all over the floor covered in blood.”

The attack sparked a nightlong search for loved-ones — parents for the children they had accompanied or had been waiting to pick up, and friends for each other after groups were scattered by the blast. Twitter and Facebook lit up with heartbreaking appeals for the missing.

“I’ve called the hospitals. I’ve called all the places, the hotels where people said that children have been taken and I’ve called the police,” Charlotte Campbell tearfully told ITV television’s Good Morning Britain breakfast show. Campbell’s 15-year-old daughter, Olivia, had attended the show with a friend who was wounded and being treated in a hospital.

“She’s not turned up,” Campbell said of her daughter. “We can’t get through to her.”

Hayley Lunt, who brought her 10-year-old daughter Abigail to the show, her very first concert, said they ran as fast as they could once the explosions rang out. “What should have been a superb evening,” Lunt said, “is now just horrible.”

Some concert-goers said security had been haphazard before the show, with some people being searched and others not. However, authorities would not say whether the bomber blew himself up inside or outside the arena, so it wasn’t clear if rigorous bag screening or additional security would have helped prevent the deaths and injuries. The venue tweeted on Monday night that it happened “outside the venue in a public space.”

Around the United Kingdom and across Europe, the attack brought fear and mourning.

U.S. President Donald Trump, on a visit to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, called the perpetrators “evil losers” and said “this wicked ideology must be obliterated.”

Manchester, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northwest of London, is one of Britain’s largest cities. The attack was the deadliest in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on subway trains and a bus in 2005.

Islamic State’s claim of responsibility echoed others the group has made for attacks in the West but with vague details that left open the possibility it was an opportunistic attempt at propaganda. Manchester itself has seen terror before, but not this deadly. The city 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, although no one was killed.

The bombing also elicited painful memories of the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, where most of the 130 killed were at the Bataclan concert hall.

Hui reported from London. Contributing to this report were Gregory Katz, Brian Rohan, Paisley Dodds, Lisa Leff and Sophie Berman in London; John Leicester and Lori Hinnant in Paris; Eric Tucker in Washington; and Matt Sedensky in New York.</s>MANCHESTER, England >> As officials hunted for accomplices of a suicide bomber and Britain’s prime minister warned another attack could be “imminent,” thousands of people poured into the streets of Manchester in a defiant vigil Tuesday for victims of a blast at a pop concert — the latest apparent target of Islamic extremists seeking to rattle life in the West.

The attack left at least 22 dead, including an 8-year-old girl, shattering the revelry at a show by American singer Ariana Grande, where strains of electric pop and the sways of innocent young fans quickly gave way to an explosion, a flood of screams and a stampede of panicked concert-goers, many clutching pink balloons and wearing the kitten-ear headbands popularized by Grande.

Touching on that disconnect, British Prime Minister Theresa May said: “We struggle to comprehend the warped and twisted mind that sees a room packed with young children not as a scene to cherish but as an opportunity for carnage.”

May said Britain’s terror threat level had been raised to critical — meaning another attack may be imminent. The status means armed soldiers could be deployed instead of police at public events including sports matches. The threat level had been at the second-highest rung of “severe” for several years.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the blood bath Monday, though a top American intelligence official said the assertion could not be verified. Manchester Police Chief Ian Hopkins identified the bomber as 22-year-old Salman Abedi, who authorities said died in the attack. Police raided two sites in the northern English city, setting off a controlled explosion in one, and arresting a 23-year-old man in a third location.
• PHOTOS: 22 dead, dozens more injured in suicide bombing at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester

May said Abedi was born and raised in Britain and a European security official said he was of Libyan descent. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on ongoing investigations.

At least 20 heavily armed, helmeted police surrounded a modest red brick house listed as Abedi’s address in a mixed Manchester suburb at midday on Tuesday and blasted down the door.

“It was so quick. These cars just pulled up and all these police with guns, dogs, jumped out of the car and said to us: ‘Get in the house now,’” said Simon Turner, 46, who lives nearby. Later, forensic officers in white coveralls were seen going in and out of the property.

Details on Abedi were slow to trickle out. He was described by neighbors as a tall, thin young man who often wore traditional Islamic dress, but few said they knew him well.

Alan Kinsey, 52, who lives across the street, said his neighbor would often get picked up by another young man in a Toyota and often returned late at night. “I thought he worked in a takeaway or something” because of his late hours, Kinsey said.

Police also searched an apartment in a nearby area that British media reported belonged to Abedi’s brother, Ismail.

Late Tuesday, thousands of people, some holding up signs proclaiming “I Love MCR” — an abbreviation for Manchester — held a moment of silence at a vigil for the victims. Lord Mayor Eddy Newman and the city’s police chief were among the speakers in front of City Hall in Albert Square, where a banner with a website for a Muslim group said “Love for all, Hatred for None.”

May called raising the country’s terror threat level and deploying soldiers to patrol key sites a “proportionate and sensible response” to the suicide bombing. There are two major sports events in London on Saturday, with Wembley Stadium hosting soccer’s FA Cup final, which Prince William is due to attend, and Twickenham hosting rugby’s Premiership final.

Monday’s bombing made Manchester Arena, one of the largest indoor concert venues in Europe, the latest apparent target of Islamic extremists striking at the heart of Western culture, an ideology baffling to the panicked young faces emerging from the concert.

Among those confirmed killed was Georgina Callander, whose death was reported by her former school, which posted a photo of her in her school uniform on its website and described her as a “lovely” and “very popular” young woman. Also killed was 8-year-old Saffie Roussos, who a teacher called “simply a beautiful little girl in every aspect of the word” who was warm, kind, “and unassuming, with a creative flair.”

The little girl’s mother and sister were among the 59 wounded, which included at least 12 children under the age of 16.

Grande, who was not injured in the blast, tweeted: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”

The bombing took place after Grande closed the show with “Dangerous Woman” and left the stage and the audience streamed toward the city’s main train station. It scattered bolts and other metal scraps, apparently intended to maximize the bloodshed. People tumbled over guardrails and one another clawing toward an escape.

“There was this massive bang. And then everyone just went really quiet. And that’s when the screaming started,” said 25-year-old Ryan Molloy. “As we came outside to Victoria Station, there were just people all over the floor covered in blood.”

The attack sparked a nightlong search for loved-ones — parents for the children they had accompanied or had been waiting to pick up, and friends for each other after groups were scattered by the blast. Twitter and Facebook lit up with heartbreaking appeals for the missing.

“I’ve called the hospitals. I’ve called all the places, the hotels where people said that children have been taken and I’ve called the police,” Charlotte Campbell tearfully told ITV television’s Good Morning Britain breakfast show. Campbell’s 15-year-old daughter, Olivia, had attended the show with a friend who was wounded and being treated in a hospital.

“She’s not turned up,” Campbell said of her daughter. “We can’t get through to her.”

Hayley Lunt, who brought her 10-year-old daughter Abigail to the show, her very first concert, said they ran as fast as they could once the explosions rang out. “What should have been a superb evening,” Lunt said, “is now just horrible.”

Some concert-goers said security had been haphazard before the show, with some people being searched and others not. However, authorities would not say whether the bomber blew himself up inside or outside the arena, so it wasn’t clear if rigorous bag screening or additional security would have helped prevent the deaths and injuries. The venue tweeted on Monday night that it happened “outside the venue in a public space.”

Around the United Kingdom and across Europe, the attack brought fear and mourning.

At Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II marked a moment of silence alongside her husband Prince Philip as well as Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. In Rome, the lights of the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain were darkened.

U.S. President Donald Trump, on a visit to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, called the perpetrators “evil losers” and said “this wicked ideology must be obliterated.”

Manchester, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northwest of London, is one of Britain’s largest cities. The attack was the deadliest in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on subway trains and a bus in 2005.

Islamic State’s claim of responsibility echoed others the group has made for attacks in the West but with vague details that left open the possibility it was an opportunistic attempt at propaganda. Manchester itself has seen terror before, but not this deadly. The city 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, although no one was killed.

The bombing also elicited painful memories of the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, where most of the 130 killed were at the Bataclan concert hall.

Hui reported from London. Contributing to this report were Gregory Katz, Brian Rohan, Paisley Dodds, Lisa Leff and Sophie Berman in London; John Leicester and Lori Hinnant in Paris; Eric Tucker in Washington; and Matt Sedensky in New York.</s>British Prime Minister Theresa May says Operation Temperer is now in force.

That means armed police who usually protect places such as the UK parliament will be replaced by members of the armed forces.

Military personnel also may be deployed at public events, she said.

Ms May issued her statement after the second emergency Cobra meeting of the day, following Monday night's attack in Manchester.

In that statement, she confirmed that the bomber was a 22-year-old man born and raised in the UK.

Ms May said "we cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to Manchester attack".</s>Britain has raised its terrorism alert to critical — the highest level — and soldiers are being deployed to assist armed police, Prime Minister Theresa May announced Tuesday.

May addressed the country one day after a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, killing 22 people and wounding nearly 60. She said members of the military will be deployed along with police at what she called “big events,” including football (soccer) matches and concerts.

The prime minister said the national terror threat level is being raised from severe to critical, which means another attack is expected “imminently.”

She said it is possible a “wider group of individuals” may have been responsible for Monday’s Manchester bombing — something British police are urgently trying to determine.

Police have identified the suicide bomber as 22-year-old Salman Abedi, but have given no other information about him.

Islamic State is claiming it was behind the attack, but neither British nor U.S. intelligence have confirmed that.

Police raided a residential area of Manchester Tuesday and carried out a controlled explosion at a house in Fallowfield, a racially mixed suburb.

They also arrested a 23-year-old man elsewhere in Manchester, but have not given any information about how he may have been involved in the blast.

The bomber blew himself up in a hall just outside the arena, where American pop star Grande had just ended her show.

May said the bomber deliberately chose the “time and place to cause maximum carnage and to kill and injure indiscriminately.”

Video shows the joy in the audience turning to confusion and then to panic and a scramble to get out of the building as the realization of what just happened spread.

Witness say they saw blood covered bodies on the floor while others, badly wounded, staggered toward the exits.

Many of the victims were young girls who idolize Grande. The youngest was just 8 years old.

The scene outside the concert hall was just as chaotic, with traffic snarled and parents rushing to the scene. Some mothers and fathers were still looking for their children on Tuesday.

Grande wrote on Twitter that she is “Broken. From the bottom of my heart, I am so, so sorry. I don’t have words.”

Pictures of Grande posing at an earlier show with one of the victims have cropped up on social media.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth held a moment of silence at a garden party at Buckingham Palace. French President Emmauel Macron signed a condolence book at the British embassy in Paris. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack only strengthens Germany’s resolve to work with the British.

The U.N. Security Council also condemned the bombing.

President Donald Trump, visiting Bethlehem in the West Bank, called those responsible for the blast “evil losers in life.”

“I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term; they would think that’s a great name,” Trump said. “I will call them from now on losers, because that’s what they are.”

He added, “We cannot stand a moment longer for the slaughter of innocent people.”

May said she does not want the British people to feel “unduly alarmed,” but she appealed to them to cooperate with police and other security services.

She ended her address to the nation Tuesday night with the traditional appeal to Britons to carry on and stand defiant.

“The spirit of Manchester and the spirit of Britain is far mightier than the sick plots of depraved terrorists. That is why the terrorists will never win, and we will prevail.”
Prime Minister Theresa May says the government has raised its terrorism threat level to critical, the highest level, which indicates another attack may be imminent.