Manchester attacker likely not to have acted alone, Rudd says

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has warned that Salman Abedi, the man who carried out a suicide attack in Manchester Arena, was ‘likely’ to have not acted alone.

The comment comes after Abedi killed 22 and injured 64 when he blew himself up at the Manchester Arena on Monday night. 20 of the 64 injured people are in critical care.

The UK terror threat level has also been raised to the highest level of ‘critical’, for the first time in a decade.

It means military personnel will now be deployed to protect key sites.

Four of the victims are known to be eight-year-old Saffie Rose Rousses, Olivia Campbell, 15, John Atkinson, 28, and Georgina Callander - thought to be 18.

According to a report from Reuters, the Polish foreign minister has said that two Polish people who went missing after the attack are among those killed.

Rudd has said she ‘absolutely’ expects the raising of the threat level to critical to be temporary and claimed the bomber was known ‘up to a point’ by the intelligence services.

The Home Secretary said: ”It was a devastating occasion, it was more sophisticated than some of the attacks we've seen before, and it seems likely - possible - that he wasn't doing this on his own.”