Updated from 4:18 a.m. EDT
The deadly attack at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena late Monday claimed 22 lives and is being treated as a terrorist incident, a spokesman for the Greater Manchester Police has confirmed.
Police say the attacker died at the scene of the incident, which took place around 10:33 BST Monday at the end of a pop concert in central Manchester, about 160 miles north west of London. The attacker used a self-detonating explosive in the 21,000-seat capacity arena, police said, and noted that inquiries at this stage are focused on whether he acted alone or with the assistance of others.
"We have been treating this as a terrorist incident and we believe, at this stage, the attack was conducted by one man," Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said in a statement. "The priority is to establish whether he was acting along or part of a network."
"We would ask people not to speculate on his details or share names," Hopkins said. "There is a complex and wide-ranging investigation underway. Our priority is to work with the National Counter Terrorist Policing Network and U.K. intelligence services to establish more details about the individual who carried out this attack."
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said police have identified the attacker although they have not yet disclosed a name.
The attack claimed the lives of 22 people, the police said, and has injured as many as 60 more. A police spokesman said he could not provide details as to the ages of the victims, but conceded that children may have been among the dead or wounded as a result of the atrocity.
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