MANCHESTER, England — The 22-year-old man suspected of killing 22 people in a suicide bombing in Manchester, for which Islamic State has claimed responsibi
MANCHESTER, England — The 22-year-old man suspected of killing 22 people in a suicide bombing in Manchester, for which Islamic State has claimed responsibility, is an English-born son of Libyan immigrants, according to officials and news reports.
An investigator in protective forensic gear was photographed carrying a booklet titled “KNOW YOUR CHEMICALS!” out of a Manchester address linked to Salman Abedi, the suspect, as officials executed search warrants on two properties in the area to determine how the bomb was assembled and whether Abedi had any help.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Monday evening bombing outside an Ariana Grande concert, where concert-goers — many of them girls and young women — had just left the 21,000-seat Manchester Arena. Investigators have not confirmed the group’s involvement in the attack, which wounded more than 59 people.
The bomb used shrapnel designed to cut and kill, but was crudely designed and investigators are determining whether it was homemade, according to U. S. law enforcement officials briefed on the British investigation.
Police have also arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with the bombing but have not released further details about his identity or the nature of his suspected involvement.
The attack prompted condolences from international leaders, including President Donald Trump and France’s newly elected president, Emmanuel Macron.
In Manchester, thousands of well wishers crowded into Albert Square for a Tuesday evening vigil to hear officials pay tribute to the dead beneath the gothic spire of the Manchester Town Hall.
“Today is a day that we all hope and prayed we would not ever see. Families, young children went out last night to enjoy themselves in our wonderful city and tragically lost their lives in a horrific way, ” Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told listeners, who loudly applauded the work of investigators.
As a chief constable and a father, Hopkins added, “I cannot begin to imagine how anyone can carry out such an unthinkable act.”
In a statement released on social media in both English and Arabic, the militant group Islamic State said a “soldier of the (Caliphate) ” had “managed to place explosive devices in the midst of the gatherings of the Crusaders in… Manchester.”
Police said the Monday night blast was caused by a lone male bomber who triggered an improvised explosive device about 10: 30 p.m., just a couple minutes after Grande had finished her final song, “Dangerous Woman, ” and left the stage.
The statement from Islamic State said the attack was an “endeavor to terrorize the mushrikin, ” using the Arabic word for polytheists, a pejorative that includes Christians, according to the group’s ideology, and it threatened to carry out more attacks.
“What comes next, ” it said, “will be more severe on the worshippers of the Cross and their allies, by Allah’s permission.”
Claims of previous lone wolf attacks perpetrated by the group’s supporters have often come from the Amaq news agency before being acknowledged by Islamic State in a later statement. But Tuesday’s claim first came from Islamic State’s media branch, hinting the attacker had a more direct link to the group.
It is unclear to U. S. intelligence officials what role, if any, Islamic State may have played in the Manchester bombing, whatever its claims of responsibility, a U. S. official said.
British authorities are still considering a full range of possibilities, including Islamic State having no role, Islamic State inspiring the attack, partially directing the attack, or fully directing and supporting the attack, the official said.
Abedi was born in Manchester and has an older brother, a younger brother and younger sister who were all born in Britain after their parents emigrated from Libya, according to the BBC. Neighbors told the television network that the family would occasionally fly the Libyan flag outside their home.
The youngest victim of the attack to be named so far is 8-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos.
She was at the concert with her mother and older sister, who were both injured and later found in separate hospitals, the Manchester Evening News reported.
“Saffie was simply a beautiful little girl in every aspect of the word, ” her school principal, Chris Upton, said in a statement.
“She was loved by everyone and her warmth and kindness will be remembered fondly.”
Prime Minister Theresa May said the attacker deliberately chose his time and place to “maximize carnage and to kill and injure indiscriminately.” She said it was among the worst acts of terrorism to ever take place on British soil.
In a tweet after the attack, Grande, who was not hurt wrote that she felt “broken.”
“From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry, ” wrote Grande, a former Nickelodeon TV star. “I don’ t have words.”
Armed police walked the streets, traffic was at a standstill on roads close to the arena and a police cordon kept passersby and drivers at least 150 yards from the point of the blast.
The bomb appeared to have been detonated just around the corner from where the Irish Republican Army unleashed its biggest-ever bomb on the British mainland in 1996.
In that attack, people were given 90 minutes’ warning before 3,300 pounds of explosives loaded into a truck shattered the city; on Monday, there was no such warning.
On the main road behind the arena, a small crowd gathered to pay their respects and quietly contemplate the events.
Brian Crawford, 45, said he had been in the area Monday night, seconds after the explosion, but was unaware of the severity of what had taken place.
He had been to a yoga class and was walking to his car as the alarms at Manchester’s Victoria Railway Station went off, sending a deafening noise across the city.
“All I could hear was three long shrieks of the sirens and then an automated voice warning people something was wrong, ” he said. “Then it would repeat. I could not even tell what the voice was saying, but I knew something was wrong.”
Emergency vehicles with sirens shrieking soon came roaring past. “I saw a row of about 10 ambulances going in and I just got out as quick as I could.”
It was a moment that intelligence agencies had long warned the country to be prepared for.
In Britain, campaigning for the June 8 parliamentary elections was suspended and May chaired a meeting of the government’s interagency emergency committee on Tuesday morning.
“All acts of terrorism are cowardly attacks on innocent people but this attack stands out for its appalling, sickening cowardice — deliberately targeting innocent, defenseless children and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives, ” she said outside Downing Street.
