KABUL (SW): An apparent suicide bomber attacked a concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande as it ended Monday night, killing 22 people among a panicked crowd of young concertgoers, some still wearing the star's trademark kitten ears as they fled.
Teenage screams filled the arena in Manchester, U.K., just after the explosion, which also killed the attacker and injured dozens, CBC reported. The attack sparked a nightlong search for loved ones — parents for the children they had accompanied or agreed to pick up, and friends for each other after groups were scattered by the blast. Twitter and Facebook were filled with appeals for the missing.
The concert was attended by thousands of young music fans in northern England. Grande, who was not injured, tweeted hours later: "Broken! from the bottom of my heart, I am so so sorry. I don't have words." Forensic investigations are trying to determine if the attacker had accomplices, said Chief Constable Ian Hopkins. He provided no information about the person who set off the bomb. Hopkins said police are treating the blast as an act of terrorism "until we know otherwise." The local ambulance service says 59 people were taken to hospitals.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Supporters of the extremist Islamic State group, which holds territory in Iraq's Mosul and around its de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa, celebrated the blast online. One wrote: "May they taste what the weak people in Mosul and [Raqqa] experience from their being bombed and burned," according to the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group.
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