Salman Abedi

British suicide bomber

On 22 May 2017, an Islamist extremist suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande.

Twenty-three people were killed, including the attacker, and 1,017 were injured, many of them children.Several hundred more suffered psychological trauma.

The bomber was Salman Ramadan Abedi, a 22-year-old local man of Libyan ancestry.After initial suspicions of a terrorist network, police later said they believed Abedi had largely acted alone but that others had been aware of his plans.

In March 2020, the bomber's brother, Hashem Abedi, was found guilty of 22 counts of murder and attempting to murder 1,017 others, and was sentenced to life in prison.

The incident was the deadliest terrorist attack and the first suicide bombing in the United Kingdom since the 7 July 2005 London bombings.