An apparent suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device that killed 22 people at the end of an Ariana Grande concert, Manchester police said Tuesday.
Police said dozens more were injured in the Monday night blast carried out by a male, who was killed.
Forensic investigations are continuing to determine if the attacker had accomplices, said Chief Constable Ian Hopkins. He provided no information about the individual who detonated the device.
Hopkins said some of the dead were children but provided no further details about the victims or the attacker.
Hopkins said police are treating the blast as an act of terrorism “until we know otherwise.” The local ambulance service says 59 people were taken to hospitals.
It was not immediately clear if police were including the attacker among the 22 people reported to have died.
The concert was attended by thousands of young music fans in northern England.
There was panic after the explosion, which struck around 10:30 p.m. (2130 GMT) . A huge bomb-like bang went off that hugely panicked everyone and we were all trying to flee the arena,” said concertgoer Majid Khan, 22. “It was one bang and essentially everyone from the other side of the arena where the bang was heard from suddenly came running towards us as they were trying to exit.”
The incident sparked a nightlong search for loved ones as frantic parents tried to locate their teenage children, and groups of friends scattered by the explosion sought to find one another.
Taxi services offered to give stranded people rides home for free, and residents opened their homes to provide lodging for others who could not get home because public transport had shut down.
Twitter and Facebook were filled with appeals for information about people who had not been accounted for.
