About our Manchester Arena Bombing news
Latest news on the Manchester Arena bombing, an Islamic terrorist suicide bombing of the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, on 22 May 2017, following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande.
The bomber, Salman Abedi, was a 22-year-old British-born man of Libyan descent who was motivated by Islamist extremism. He carried a large backpack containing a homemade explosive device made of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and nuts and bolts serving as shrapnel. He detonated the bomb at 10:31 p.m. in the foyer of the arena, known as the City Room, where people were leaving the concert.
The bombing killed 22 people and injured 1,017. Among the dead were seven children, the youngest being eight years old. Many of the injured suffered severe and life-changing injuries, such as limb loss, hearing loss, and psychological trauma. The bombing was the deadliest act of terrorism and the first suicide bombing in the UK since the 7 July 2005 London bombings.
Abedi's younger brother, Hashem Abedi, was found to have helped him source and assemble the explosive materials for the bomb. He was arrested in Libya shortly after the attack and extradited to the UK in 2019. He was convicted of 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and one count of conspiracy to cause an explosion in March 2020. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 55 years in August 2020.
The emergency response to the bombing was marred by a number of failings and mistakes by the police, fire, and ambulance services. A public inquiry into the incident, chaired by Sir John Saunders, found that there were delays in declaring a major incident, communicating with other agencies, deploying resources to the scene, triaging and evacuating casualties, and preventing further harm. The inquiry also found that some lives could have been saved if there had been better coordination and care.