WASHINGTON — The United States’ top intelligence official says the U.S. government has not yet verified that the Islamic State group is responsible for the ****** in **********, England Monday night, but called the ****** ******** a reminder of how serious the ****** ****** remains.
“This ****** is real, it’s not going away, and it needs significant attention,”Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said during testimony Tuesday before the Senate ***** Services Committee. Coats said the ****** was carried out by a ******* ******.
Coats appeared before the panel following a ******* ****** at an ************* show in England that left 22 people **** and dozens more *******. The Islamic State claimed it was behind the ******. The Islamic State group said one of its members planted bombs in crowds at the *******. The group warned in a statement posted on social media that more ******* are to come.
An 8-year-old girl was among the 22 confirmed **** – the youngest known ****** – and the *****’s mother and sister were among 59 people ******* in what British Prime Minister Theresa May called “a callous ********* ******.”The ******* included 12 children under 16.
“We struggle to comprehend the warped and twisted mind that sees a room packed with young children not as a scene to cherish but as an opportunity for carnage,”May said as campaigning for *******’s June 8 national ******** was suspended.
May and ****** said the ****** **** in the ****** – something that went unmentioned in Islamic State’s claim of responsibility, which gave no name for the ********. British ****** announced Tuesday they had arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with the ******* and raided two locations, carrying out a controlled ********* at one of them.
May said authorities believe they have identified the ********, but did not release his name. She said authorities were trying to determine if he had an accomplice.
The ****** was the deadliest in ******* since four ******* bombers ****** 52 London ********* on subway trains and a bus in July 2005.
Some *******-goers said security was haphazard before the show, with some people being searched and others allowed inside unhindered. The ******* took place at the end of the *******, when the audience was streaming toward the exits of ********** Arena, one of the largest indoor ******* venues in the *****.
As ****** shut down public transport shut down, ********** residents opened their hearts. Taxis offered to give ******** people free rides home while some residents opened their homes to provide lodging.
Grande, who was not ******* in the *****, tweeted hours later: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”
The U.N. Security Council has condemned “the atrocious ********* ****** perpetrated against young innocent people.”
Uruguay’s U.N. Ambassador Elbio Rosselli, the current council president, delivered the condemnation at the start of a meeting Tuesday on chemical ******* in Syria and asked for a moment of silence.
*******’s queen also marked a moment of silence to honour the ******* of the ********** ******* *******. Accompanied by her husband Prince Philip, her son Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the queen , who was attending a garden party on palace grounds Tuesday afternoon, stood at the top of the steps leading down from Buckingham Palace. The national anthem was then played.
With file from The Associated Press
