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Britain Raises Terrorism Threat Level, Meaning New Attack May Be Imminent
Terror Alert in Britain Is Raised to Maximum as ISIS Claims Manchester Attack
(about 1 hour later)
MANCHESTER, England — Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain said on Tuesday night that the government had raised its terrorism threat level to critical — the highest level — meaning that another attack may be imminent even as the country mourned the victims of the Manchester bombing.
MANCHESTER, England — Britain’s prime minister put the nation on its highest level of alert on Tuesday and deployed the military to work with the police over fears that another terrorist attack was imminent.
The announcement came as the police continued to investigate whether the Monday night bombing at a pop music concert in Manchester that killed 22 people, including children, was part of a broader conspiracy.
“It is a possibility we cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack,” Prime Minister Theresa May said in Manchester after a meeting of her top security officials.
Earlier in the day, the police raided the home of Salman Abedi, the man they identified as the bomber; he died in the blast. Chief Constable Ian Hopkins of the Greater Manchester Police said that the investigation was focusing on determining “whether Mr. Abedi was acting alone or as part of a network.”
A senior United States official said on Tuesday night that Mr. Abedi had traveled multiple times to Libya, where his parents immigrated from, but did not know the timing of his last trip. The official was not authorized to discuss the information publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
By raising the national threat level from severe to critical, Ms. May suggested “not only that an attack remains highly likely, but that a further attack may be imminent.”
The government’s actions on Tuesday night came hours after the authorities began the gruesome task of identifying the dead. An 8-year-old girl who had attended the Ariana Grande concert with her mother and older sister and a college student who chronicled on Instagram her encounters with her pop-music idols like Ms. Grande were among those killed.
As the authorities bolstered the nation’s defenses, investigators set out to learn as much as they could about Mr. Abedi, 22, who lived with his family only a few miles from where he detonated a homemade bomb on a public concourse crowded with Ms. Grande’s adoring teenage fans leaving the arena.
Rescue workers sifting through the carnage outside the arena on Monday night discovered Mr. Abedi’s identification card. That clue led the police to the home he shared with his family on Elsmore Road, in the Fallowfield district. The police blew the house’s door off its frame, to safeguard against booby traps, as shocked neighbors watched.
“We’ve been watching this kind of attack happen in Paris,” said a neighbor, Thomas Coull, 17. “We didn’t expect it to happen on our doorstep, literally.”
Mr. Abedi was born in 1994 in Britain, according to a law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was still underway.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in one post on social media that “one of the soldiers of the caliphate was able to place an explosive device within a gathering of the crusaders in the city of Manchester.” It was one of several Islamic State statements, some contradictory, posted on different social media accounts.
A neighbor of the Abedi family in the Fallowfield district, southwest of the Manchester city center, said the family “didn’t really speak to anyone.” The neighbor, Lina Ahmed, added, “They were nice people if you walked past.” She said the family occasionally displayed a Libyan flag outside the home.
Another neighbor, Farzana Kosur, said that the mother, who taught the Quran, had been abroad for about two months. A trustee of the Manchester Islamic Center said Mr. Abedi’s father and his brother Ismael attended the mosque, but the trustee, Fawzi Haffar, did not know if Mr. Abedi worshiped there.
A senior member of the Muslim community in Manchester and a law enforcement official who requested anonymity said Mr. Abedi had been barred from the mosque in 2015 for expressing his support for the Islamic State, and he came to the attention of intelligence agencies at the time as “a person of interest.”
In raising the threat level, Mrs. May cited information gathered Tuesday in the investigation into the Manchester bombing, and said the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center, the body responsible for setting the level, would continue to review the situation.
“The change in the threat level means that there will be additional resources and support made available to the police as they work to keep us all safe,” Mrs. May said.
“I do not want the public to feel unduly alarmed,” she said. “We have faced a serious terrorist threat in our country for many years, and the operational response I have just outlined is a proportionate and sensible response to the threat that our security experts judge we face.”
It was only the third time that Britain had raised the threat level to critical.
It was only the third time that Britain had raised the threat level to critical.
After a meeting of her top security officials to consider intelligence after the attack in Manchester on Monday night that killed 22 people and wounded dozens more at a pop concert, Mrs. May said that “it is a possibility we cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack.”
The first was on Aug. 10, 2006, after the government foiled a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners with liquid bombs. The second was on June 30, 2007, after two men slammed an S.U.V. into entrance doors at Glasgow Airport and turned the vehicle into a potentially lethal fireball.
She added that soldiers would be deployed to assist armed police, and free some of them up to pursue the possibility that the bomber in Manchester, Salman Abedi, 22, did not act alone and was part of a larger cell that could be planning further attacks.
After the prime minister’s announcement, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, said in a statement that “we are flexing our resources to increase police presence at key sites, such as transport and other crowded places and we are reviewing key events over the coming weeks.”
“This morning, I said that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center – the independent organization responsible for setting the threat level on the basis of the intelligence available – was keeping the threat level under constant review,” Ms. May said in a statement.
“I have asked for support from the military to be deployed alongside the police,” Commissioner Rowley added. “This will free up armed officers from certain guarding duties to release our officers to support the wider response.”
It has now concluded, on the basis of today’s investigations, that the threat level should be increased, for the time being, from SEVERE to CRITICAL. This means that their assessment is not only that an attack remains highly likely, but that a further attack may be imminent,” the statement said.
As part of their investigation into the Manchester bombing, the police arrested a 23-year-old man outside a supermarket near Mr. Abedi’s home, but it was not immediately clear if that man was connected in some way to the attack.
The first time that the terror level was raised to critical occurred on Aug. 10, 2006, after the government foiled a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners with liquid bombs.
The terrorist attack was the worst in the history of Manchester, a city of a half-million people, and the worst in Britain since July 7, 2005, when 52 people died, along with four assailants, in coordinated attacks on London’s transit system.
The second time was on June 30, 2007, after two men slammed an S.U.V. into entrance doors at Glasgow Airport and turned the vehicle into a potentially lethal fireball.
Security experts suggested that the use of an improvised explosive device in Manchester displays a level of sophistication that implied collaborators — and the possibility that other bombs had been made at the same time.
The government’s actions on Tuesday night came hours after Mr. Abedi was identified by the police as the bomber who carried out Monday night’s assault, Britain’s deadliest terrorist attack since 2005, an explosion that killed 22 people and injured 59 others at Manchester Arena.
Mr. Abedi, whose parents had emigrated from Libya and who lived in a house just 3.5 miles from the arena, where he detonated a homemade bomb in a public concourse around 10:30 p.m. on Monday. The bomb exploded as a concert by the American pop star Ariana Grande was ending and as crowds of teenagers had begun to leave, many for an adjacent train station.
Mr. Abedi died in the attack.
At a late afternoon news conference, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins of the Greater Manchester Police identified the bomber as Mr. Abedi after several news publications reported his name, but he declined to provide any further details, noting that a coroner had not yet officially identified him.
“The priority remains to establish whether he was acting alone or as part of a network,” Chief Constable Hopkins said.
Mr. Abedi’s ID was found at the scene of the bombing, according to a law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was still underway. Mr. Abedi was born in Britain in 1994, the son of immigrants from Libya, the official said.
According to neighbors, Mr. Abedi lived with his family in a house in Elsmore Road, in the Fallowfield district. The police raided the house Tuesday afternoon, after setting off a controlled explosion to gain entry.
A neighbor, Lina Ahmed, said she knew little about the family. “They didn’t really speak to anyone,” she said. “They were nice people if you walked past.” She said the family occasionally displayed a Libyan flag outside the home.
Another neighbor, Farzana Kosur, said that the mother, who taught the Quran, had been abroad for around two months.
Residents were stunned by the police operations. “We’ve been watching this kind of attack happen in Paris,” said a neighbor, Thomas Coull, 17. “We didn’t expect it to happen on our doorstep, literally.”
He was with a friend, Bilal Butt, also 17, who said: “It’s a shock. You see it in other places and then suddenly it hits you in your own neighborhood.”
Also on Tuesday, the police arrested a 23-year-old man outside a nearby supermarket. It was not immediately clear whether or how that man was connected to the attack.
The British government did not make any immediate comment on the claim by the Islamic State, which said on the social messaging app Telegram that, “One of the soldiers of the caliphate was able to place an explosive device within a gathering of the crusaders in the city of Manchester.” The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militants’ communications, also provided a translation of the claim.
As condolences poured in around the world on Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth II observed a minute of silence for the victims at Buckingham Palace. The queen, her son Prince Charles and her grandson Prince William all issued statements expressing support for the victims, their families and Manchester.
At 6 p.m., a large crowd turned up for a vigil at Albert Square in the heart of Manchester, a city of half a million and a birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, to express grief and solidarity. Offers of support poured in; so many people volunteered to donate blood that a local blood bank had to turn people away.
The authorities reacted with horror and anger at an attack that appeared to have targeted adolescents and their families.
The terrorist attack was the worst in the history of Manchester and northern England, and the worst in Britain since July 7, 2005, when 52 people died, along with four assailants, in coordinated attacks on London’s transit system.
“After our darkest of nights, Manchester is today waking up to the most difficult of dawns,” Mayor Andy Burnham told reporters. “These were children, young people, and their families. Those responsible chose to terrorize and kill. This was an evil act.”
Security experts suggested that the use of a suicide bomb in Manchester, if true, would display a level of sophistication that implied collaborators — and the possibility that other bombs had been fabricated at the same time.
“This type of target was absolutely foreseeable, as Islamic State has increasingly been highlighting in its propaganda that scores of children have been killed in coalition and Russian strikes targeting Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria,” said Michael S. Smith II, a terrorism analyst who specializes in the Islamic State’s influence efforts and who is writing a book on its external operations.
All of that content is “intended to stimulate thinking about executing retributive attacks among Islamic State supporters here in the West,” Mr. Smith said.
Chris Phillips, a former leader of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office in Britain, told the BBC: “It has involved a lot of planning — it’s a bit of a step up. This is a much more professional-style attack.”
Chris Phillips, a former leader of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office in Britain, told the BBC: “It has involved a lot of planning — it’s a bit of a step up. This is a much more professional-style attack.”
Another former member of that office, Lee Doddridge, said that “alarm bells for me are ringing at the moment because this would have appeared to have taken quite a considerable amount of planning.”
The Islamic State also claimed responsibility for the March 22 attack near Parliament in which a British man fatally struck four pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before killing a police officer. British authorities say they have also broken up terrorist cells operating in the country.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the March 22 attack in which a British man fatally struck four pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before killing a police officer outside Parliament. Two British men, converts to Islam, were behind a May 2013 attack on a soldier, Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death outside an army barracks in southeast London.
But investigators fear the Manchester attack indicates a higher level of sophistication, requiring more planning and the possibility of more attacks, prompting the national threat level to be raised.
Richard Barrett, former director of global counterterrorism operations at MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence agency, said that the security and police forces were stretched, having to monitor more than 400 people returning from jihad in the Middle East, and 600 or so others who had tried to go but had been stopped. “So that’s already 1,000 people,” without taking into account other sympathizers in Britain, he said.
The bombing came in the final stretch of campaigning before a general election on June 8 in Britain, and the country’s political parties agreed on Tuesday to suspend campaigning. Opposition politicians — Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party, Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats and Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party — joined Mrs. May in expressing their grief and condolences.
“It’s not that complicated to build a bomb,” Mr. Barrett told the BBC. “I’m not sure it requires someone to go to Syria to get that expertise.”
Mr. Barrett urged the authorities to engage more with the Muslim communities of Britain “to understand why people do this,” saying that information from local communities was more important in stopping terrorism than putting up barriers or bombing in the Middle East. “It’s about engaging the community and letting the community inform us about how to avoid attacks,” he said.
“The external stuff,” he added, “is easier to do but is not protecting us.”
President Trump phoned Mrs. May from Jerusalem on Tuesday morning. Later, speaking at a news conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Trump castigated what he called the “evil losers” responsible.
The attack came in the final stretch of campaigning before a general election in Britain on June 8, and the country’s political parties agreed to suspend campaigning on Tuesday. Opposition politicians — Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party, Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats and Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party — joined Mrs. May in expressing their grief and condolences.
It was unclear what effect the attack might have on the election. Some political experts suggested it would help Mrs. May, who, in her previous role as home secretary, was in charge of Britain’s domestic security and is generally perceived as a tough leader. But difficult questions are already being asked about what security gaps might have abetted the assault, and what could have been done to prevent it.
It was unclear what effect the attack might have on the election. Some political experts suggested it would help Mrs. May, who, in her previous role as home secretary, was in charge of Britain’s domestic security and is generally perceived as a tough leader. But difficult questions are already being asked about what security gaps might have abetted the assault, and what could have been done to prevent it.
Britain is no stranger to terrorism. It suffered the attack in London in March, and the authorities say they have broken up terrorist cells lately. Britain’s threat level for international terrorism has for some time been at its second-highest level, indicating that an attack had been considered highly likely.
Manchester was the site of an Irish Republican Army bombing in 1996 that devastated the city center but caused no fatalities, and Europe as a whole has become all too familiar with the human toll of terrorism in recent years. But the Manchester attack on Monday caused particular anger and pain: It targeted a concert spilling over with girls in their teens or younger, with their lives ahead of them, out for a fun night.
Flags were at half-staff on Downing Street in London, where the prime minister works and lives, and at Manchester Town Hall.
Ms. Grande, who started her career as a star on a Nickelodeon TV series, expressed her sorrow on Twitter. “Broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words,” she wrote.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said that the city was bolstering security measures. Leaders across the world sent their condolences and support to Britain, including President Emmanuel Macron of France, who expressed his horror at the attack, as well as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia.
“I don’t think it has hit us,” said Jane McCluskey, of Hartlepool, England, who had attended the concert with her daughter, Charlotte. With her daughter still wearing a sweatshirt with the logo of Ms. Grande’s “Dangerous Woman Tour,” Ms. McCluskey sounded plaintive.
