Manchester bombing: Britain boosts military presence amid raised threat

by Dramelin 4:00 AM 0 comments

Manchester, ENGLAND — British authorities deployed troops and security officers across high-risk locations Wednesday after its terrorism threat level was raised to its highest level in a decade.
Intelligence officials are still trying to establish whether the bomber who killed 22 people at a music concert acted alone.
Four people have been arrested in connection with the attack.
Three men were arrested in south Manchester, police said Wednesday.
 A 23-year-old man detained on Tuesday who remains in custody is a brother of the suspected bomber, the BBC reported.
Military personnel were sent to protect public sites and key landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace in London, major airports and transportation hubs and large concert venues in cities from Belfast to Birmingham.
The move is designed to free up police officers to protect civilians from terror-related activity.
The extra security measures follow Prime Minister Theresa May`s decision to raise the country`s terror threat level to "critical," the highest it`s been since 2007, meaning that further attacks could be imminent.
The government did not specify how many troops were being deployed.
Police identified the suspected suicide bomber who murdered 22 people and injured dozens at Manchester Arena shortly Monday night as Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old man from the greater Manchester area.
 He is believed to be of Libyan descent and may have recently returned from there.
The bombing happened shortly after a show at the 21,000-seat venue by the American singer Ariana Grande, who has a large fan base among teens and preteens.
While police believe Abedi was solely responsible for detonating the device that struck exiting concert goers, many of them children, they are frantically working to determine whether he may have had assistance in constructing the explosive device or have links to terrorism networks planning further assaults.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack but that claim has not been verified.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told French TV on Wednesday that  Abedi probably traveled to Syria.
"Today we only know what British investigators have told us — someone of British nationality, of Libyan origin, who suddenly after a trip to Libya, then probably to Syria, becomes radicalized and decides to carry out this attack," he told BFMTV.
His comments couldn`t immediately be verified by USA TODAY.
British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Wednesday that Abedi probably had some kind of help.
The attack was "more sophisticated than some of the attacks we’ve seen before, and it seems likely, possible, that he wasn’t doing this on his own.
" Rudd, who was speaking on British TV, said she found it "irritating" that information about Abedi`s identity was first revealed by U.
law enforcement when British authorities had made it clear they thought releasing his identity too soon could negatively impact the investigation.
Meanwhile, hospitals across Manchester on Wednesday were still treating 59 people for injuries, including 12 under the age of 16.
Late Tuesday, the mother of Olivia Campbell, a 15-year-old girl who had been at Grande`s show and had been missing since the attack, confirmed her death.
"Go sing with the angels and keep smiling mummy loves you so much," Charlotte Campbell wrote on Facebook.
Saffie Rose Roussos, 8, Georgina Callander, 18, and John Atkinson, 28, were among the victims of the blast.
People from Manchester attended a vigil in Albert Square on Tuesday evening in solidarity with those killed and injured in the attack and well-known landmarks around the world, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Empire State Building in New York, temporarily turned off their lights to honor those who died.
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