UK Raises Security Alert to Maximum as Manchester Investigation Continues

British police announced Wednesday that authorities are investigating a "network" as part of the probe into the attack Monday night that left at least 22 dead and 64 injured at a concert in the northern English city of Manchester where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing, while Manchester police made three new arrests in connection with the bombing. 

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Police identified the suicide bomber Tuesday as Salman Abedi, 22-years-old, but police declined to give further details. Britain’s interior minister Amber Rudd told BBC Television on Wednesday she believed Abedi had recently returned from Libya.

"Yes, I believe that has been confirmed. When this operation is over, we will want to look at his background and what happened, how he became radicalized and what support he might have been given," she said.

Abedi was born in Manchester in 1994 to parents of Libyan origin. He is believed to have traveled from London by train to Manchester before the attack. 

Abdalla Yousef, a spokesman for the Didsbury Mosque in Manchester, said Abedi's father and brother had prayed there but Abedi had worshipped at another mosque.

"I have managed to track down somebody who knows the family. He confirmed his father and sister and the rest of the family had moved to Libya and had moved there straight after the revolution after Gadaffi was killed," Yousef said.

Neighbors of Abedi’s family told The Telegraph newspaper that Abedi had become increasingly devout and withdrawn recently. 

“They are a Libyan family and they have been acting strangely. A couple of months ago he (Salman) was chanting the first kalma (Islamic prayer) really loudly in the street. He was chanting in Arabic,” Lina Ahmed, 21, said. “He was saying ‘There is only one God and the prophet Mohammed is his messenger.’"

The University of Salford, based in Manchester, said in a statement that Abedi was one of its students and it was helping the police with their investigation.

Hours before Manchester police revealed the killer’s identity, U.S. broadcaster named him as Abedi quoting U.S. sources. Rudd said the leak is “irritating” and may hinder investigations. 

"The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise, so it is irritating if it gets released from other sources, and I have been very clear with our friends that should not happen again," Rudd said. 

Britain had increased its security threat level from “severe” to “critical” following the attack, Prime Minister Theresa May said. It means more attacks may be imminent and military personnel are being deployed in key locations to help protect the public. 

May said that the decision was taken in part because of the potential that the suspected Manchester attacker may have been part of a network of other terrorists who may attempt another attack. 

"Our priority, along with the police counter-terrorism network and our security partners, is to continue to establish whether he was acting alone or working as part of a wider network," Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said.

Following the announcement, the Palace of Westminster has been closed to the public. The Changing the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace also has been cancelled on Wednesday. 

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On Tuesday, the police raided houses in South Manchester and arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester. He was later confirmed as Abedi’s older brother Ismael.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said British investigators had told French authorities Abedi had probably traveled to Syria and had links with Islamic State.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the blast after the attack.

"One of the soldiers of the Caliphate was able to place an explosive device within a gathering of the Crusaders in the city of Manchester," said a statement the group posted on Telegram.

However, the Islamic State group didn’t name the bomber in the statement, which it usually did in previous attacks. Some of its claims even appeared to contradict U.K. police descriptions and even another post on an Islamic State group account. 

The U.K. transport police said one explosion was reported to have hit the foyer of the building at about 10:30 p.m. local time. Multiple witnesses said they heard an explosion, with one telling the Guardian the blast shook the building.

"We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming," concert-goer Catherine Macfarlane told Reuters.

"It was a huge explosion — you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out."

According to one fan, the loud bangs reverberated even as people fled the arena. People were reportedly seen fleeing covered in blood.

Prime Minister May said in a statement, "We are working to establish the full details. All our thoughts are with the victims and the families of those who have been affected."

"All acts of terrorism are cowardly ... but this attack stands out for its appalling sickening cowardice, deliberately targeting innocent, defenseless children and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives," May said outside her Downing Street office in London.

Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe, opened in 1995 and has a capacity for 21,000 people, according to its website. It is a popular concert and sporting venue.

On Monday, it was when Grande, 23, a U.S. singer who is especially popular with teenage girls, had just finished the concert at the Arena that the bomber set off his device. 

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Grande returned to the United States on Tuesday. She had not been seen publicly since the attack. In her only statement so far, Grande said on Twitter: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words." 

A 16-year-old eye-witness told the Guardian that he and his two friends had come from Lincoln for this evening’s show. They were sat next to the stage when they heard explosions as the performance came to an end.

“A lot of people are saying that there were two explosions, but we all heard three,” he says.

“It sounded like a gunshot. At first, we thought it as a balloon, but then we felt the vibrations and stuff so we realized it wasn’t a balloon. Our parents heard the explosion from (their) hotel.”

A video posted on Twitter showed fans screaming and running out of the venue.

A 15-year-old girl told the Guardian, “There were people falling over the chairs trying to get away and when we were running out we saw blood up the walls.”

Buses have been pressed into service to ferry people out of the area, while some local taxi companies are also offering free rides for those affected. Rail services next to Manchester Arena are closed. #RoomForManchester is emerging on social media to help those affected and offer spaces to stay the night for those who were at the concert who can’t easily get home since transport away from the area will be difficult.

Monday's attack was the deadliest in the U.K. since four English Muslims killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London's transport system in 2005.

On Tuesday evening, thousands of people attended a vigil in central Manchester to show their respect to the dead and their defiance against violence. 

"There's hard times again in these streets of our city, but we won't take defeat and we don't want your pity, because this is the place where we stand strong together with a smile on our face, Mancunians forever," local poet Tony Walsh said in a poem he read to the crowd.