ISIS have claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at a packed Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, which killed 22 people, including children, and injured 120 others.
The terror group said “one of the caliphate’s soldiers placed bombs among the crowds” at the concert, on Monday night, in the most deadly terror attack Britain has seen since the 7/7 bombings.
It also emerged on Tuesday that, shortly before the incident, an unverified Twitter account posted cryptic tweets showing the ISIS black flag alongside the hashtags #IslamicState and #Manchesterarena.
The account then posted a message saying: “You forget our threat? This is the just terror”. His account was deleted shortly afterwards.
Police have declined to comment on the messages.
But a 23-year-old man was arrested by anti-terror officers in the south of the city as police and security services attempt to work out if the suicide bomber was part of a cell.
Security sources have hinted that that initial analysis of the “sophisticated” device suggests it was made by an expert.
Meanwhile, Manchester’s Arndale shopping centre was evacuated, on Tuesday morning, amid fears of another terror attack.
Dramatic footage shows crowds of people screaming and sprinting from the shopping mall Tuesday morning amid fears of a bomb in the food court.
Witnesses have reported hearing a “big bang” at the giant shopping centre.
Police have said only that they are dealing with an “incident”.
It is understood that the shopping centre evacuation is not connected to last night’s attack.
One woman who was inside reported members of staff running through the foyer screaming at people to evacuate.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that a suspicious package may have been found in the food court.
Armed police have entered the centre, eyewitnesses said, and the entire complex is under lockdown.
Reports say Greater Manchester Police were unable to confirm what had happened at the centre.
Collette Nicholls, who works at Superdrug in the Arndale Centre, told MailOnline: “I was just about to serve a lady when all I could here was people running and screaming saying that there’s gunshots. And then we were told by our manager to come out… we are all distressed and upset.
“We had to come out of the Arndale and police have shut it down.”
A woman in her early 40s who was shaking, said a man acted angrily at being arrested and started smashing glass.
She said: “It was horrible – he started smashing glass and armed police turned up. eople ran, they thought it was happening again.”
Workers and consumers “dropped everything” as they evacuated the sprawling shopping centre in the heart of the city.
One shopper shouted: “Run! There’s a bomb.”
Shop worker, Niamh Weir, 17, from Oldham, said: “I was terrified. My heart was pumping Shopping all over the floor. People just dropped everything and ran. We were panicking.”
Another worker added: “The security guards were shouting at everyone to get out. It was really frightening.”
Monday night’s suicide bomber targeted youngsters leaving the pop concert at Manchester Arena.
Witnesses told of nuts and bolts tearing into young concert-goers when the blast was detonated in the foyer area between the arena and the next-door Victoria station, after the Ariana Grande performance ended.
Grande, who escaped unharmed, tweeted she was “broken”, adding: “From the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don’t have words.”
Her manager Scooter Braun said: “We mourn for the children.”
The bomb went off just after the end of the concert at a time parents were leaving with their children and other mothers and fathers were arriving to pick up groups of youngsters.
Police have confirmed that the suicide bomber, who was known to authorities, died inside the arena after an improvised explosive device was detonated.
As the explosion tore through the lobby, terrified youngsters stampeded for the sold-out 21,000-seater stadium’s exits in horrifying scenes caught on mobile phone cameras.
Witnesses described the carnage as being “like a war zone”.
Terrified parents and children are now trying to find missing family members they lost contact with when the bomb went off.
ISIS Claim Responsibility for Manchester Suicide Bombing …. Twitter Post Warned of Terror Attack
ByEditor
May 23, 2017
The tweet that appeared to have 'predicted' the terror attack