23-year-old man arrested over Manchester terror attack

A 23-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the bomb attack which killed 22 people, including children, and injured 59 more in Manchester.

The arrest was announced just moments after Prime Minister Theresa May denounced the “appalling sickening cowardice” of the lone suicide bomber who detonated a homemade device in the foyer of the Manchester Arena just as thousands of young people were leaving a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande.

With regards to last night’s incident at the Manchester arena, we can confirm we have arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester.

— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 23, 2017

Declaring that police and security services would be given whatever resources were needed to track down any accomplices of the attacker, Mrs May vowed: “The terrorists will never win and our values, our country and our way of life will always prevail.”

Greater Manchester Police said in a statement: “With regards to the ongoing investigation into last night’s horrific attack at the Manchester Arena, we can confirm we have arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester.”

Speaking outside Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee, Mrs May said that police and security services believed they knew the identify of the bomber, who died alongside his victims.

She said that he had chosen the time and place of his attack deliberately to cause “maximum carnage and to kill and injure indiscriminately”.

Mrs May, who was later travelling to Manchester to speak to police chiefs, paid tributes to emergency workers and members of the public who rushed to help. She said they had shown: “The spirit of Manchester and the spirit of Britain – a spirit that through years of conflict and terrorism has never been broken and will never be broken.”