Report reveals missed opportunities and security failures in preventing the 2017 attack.
A public inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017 has concluded that Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber, should have been flagged as a security threat before carrying out the devastating attack. The inquiry, led by Sir John Saunders, found “serious shortcomings” in the security measures at the arena, citing missed opportunities to prevent or reduce the impact of the attack, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more.
Sir Saunders acknowledged that while it is likely Abedi would still have detonated his bomb even if confronted, the scale of death and injury could have been significantly reduced. The attack took place on 22 May 2017, when Abedi, who was born in Manchester to Libyan parents, walked through the venue’s foyer and detonated his bomb among the crowd of people leaving an Ariana Grande concert. Many of the victims were young children, making the tragedy particularly heart-wrenching.
