ISIS Claims Responsibility for Manchester Concert Attack; 22 Are Dead -<br />By KATRIN BENNHOLD, STEVEN ERLANGER and CEYLAN YEGINSUMAY 23, 2017<br />MANCHESTER, England — The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a bombing at Manchester<br />Arena, the deadliest terrorist assault in Britain since 2005, as the death toll rose to 22.<br />“This attack stands out for its appalling, sickening cowardice — deliberately targeting innocent, defenseless children<br />and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives.”<br />The terrorist attack was the worst in the history of Manchester<br />and northern England, and the worst in Britain since 2005, when 52 people died, along with four assailants, in coordinated attacks on London’s transit system.<br />“This type of target was absolutely foreseeable, as Islamic State has increasingly been highlighting in its propaganda<br />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.<br />“We now know that a single terrorist detonated his improvised explosive device near one of the exits of the venue, deliberately choosing the time<br />and place to cause maximum carnage and to kill and injure indiscriminately,” Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain said in a televised statement.
