Manchester Blast Death Toll Rises to 22 Dead and 59 Injured

Twenty-two people were confirmed dead Tuesday with at least 59 injured following a suspected terror attack at Manchester Arena.

    The blast took place at 22:35 BST on Monday following a pop concert by the US singer Ariana Grande.

    British Prime Minister Theresa May said her thoughts were with those affected by "what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack". The prime minister has announced she will chair a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee. 

    The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) chief constable Ian Hopkins said in the early hours of Tuesday that police is currently treating this as a terrorist incident until they know otherwise. "We are working closely with the national counter-terrorism policing network and UK intelligence partners," he said. 

    The 21,000-capacity venue's management said the explosion took place outside the arena as people, many of them children and teenagers, were leaving the concert.

    If confirmed as a terrorist attack, it will be the deadliest in Britain since the 2005 bombing of the London Underground in which 56 people were killed.

Source: QNA