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At least 22 killed, 59 hurt after terrorist incident at Ariana Grande concert, UK police say

 
Emergency services arrive  close to the Manchester Arena on May 23, 2017 in Manchester, England.  There have been reports of explosions at Manchester Arena where Ariana Grande had performed this evening.  Greater Manchester Police have have confirmed there are fatalities and warned people to stay away from the area. [Photo by Dave Thompson/Getty Images]
Emergency services arrive close to the Manchester Arena on May 23, 2017 in Manchester, England. There have been reports of explosions at Manchester Arena where Ariana Grande had performed this evening. Greater Manchester Police have have confirmed there are fatalities and warned people to stay away from the area. [Photo by Dave Thompson/Getty Images]
Published May 23, 2017

An explosion that may have been a suicide bombing killed at least 22 people on Monday night and wounded 59 others at an Ariana Grande concert filled with adoring adolescent fans, in what the police were treating as a terrorist attack.

Panic and mayhem seized the crowd at the Manchester Arena as the blast reverberated through the building, just as the show was ending and pink balloons were dropping from the rafters in a signature flourish by Grande, a 23-year-old American pop star on an international tour.

Traumatized concertgoers, including children separated from parents, screamed and fled in what appeared to be the deadliest episode of terrorism in Britain since the 2005 London transit bombings.

Speaking to reporters early Tuesday, Manchester's chief constable, Ian Hopkins, said the police learned of the explosion about 10:33 p.m. The wounded were taken to six hospitals, he added.

There was no immediate word from the authorities on the precise cause of the blast, but unconfirmed reports said a suicide bomber might have detonated a nail-filled explosive device.

Intelligence officials in the United States were briefed on the Manchester explosion late Monday and were told that it appeared to be a terrorist attack, according to a senior official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The scene in downtown Manchester immediately evoked the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, which included a deadly assault inside the Bataclan concert hall, where the Eagles of Death Metal had been playing. But unlike the Bataclan show, the Manchester concert was filled with young teenagers.

"This is currently being treated as a terrorist incident until the police know otherwise," the Manchester police said in a Twitter post.

Prime Minister Theresa May said her thoughts were with the victims and their families in "what is being treated by the police as an appalling terrorist attack." She was scheduled to lead a meeting of the government's crisis response committee on Tuesday morning.

While the country and the world reacted to the news of the explosion and deaths with dismay, anger and grief, the British authorities, who have foiled numerous terrorist plots, were probably not surprised.

The terrorist threat level set by MI5, the domestic intelligence service, has been at "severe," the second-highest level, for months now, meaning officials considered an attack "highly likely."