British authorities on
Tuesday identified the suicide bomber who launched a deadly attack at a Manchester
Ariana Grande concert, hours after ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast.
Salman Abedi, 23, was
identified as the suspect 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. At least 12 children under the age of 16
were injured, emergency responders said. An 8-year-old girl was among the dead.
TIMELINE
OF RECENT TERROR ATTACKS AGAINST THE WEST
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. has not yet verified that the terror
group was responsible.
The explosion happened
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."
Politicians both at home
and abroad condemned the attack. British Prime Minister Theresa May called the
attack “appalling, sickening cowardice."
“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,” she
said.
President Donald Trump
slammed those responsible for the attack as “losers.”
“I won’t call them
‘monsters’ because they would like that term… I will call them, from now on,
‘losers’ because that’s what they are, they’re losers.”
