UK Ups Terror Threat Level

Britain prepared to deploy soldiers at key sites on Wednesday having raised its terror threat level to maximum after a suicide bomber massacred 22 people at a pop concert in Manchester.

Addressing the nation from her Downing Street office, Prime Minister Theresa May warned late Tuesday that a new attack “may be imminent” and there was a possibility of “a wider group of individuals linked to this attack”, AFP reported.

May said the threat level was being raised from severe to critical on the recommendation of the intelligence services and she was activating a plan for armed military personnel to assist police.

Her dramatic statement came after 22-year-old Salman Abedi, a Briton of Libyan descent, was identified as the perpetrator behind Monday’s deadly attack at the concert.

The self-styled Islamic State terrorist group claimed the carnage.

Police said soldiers would initially be on guard at fixed points and could also be sent to patrol transport hubs, concerts and sports events.

The plan, which has never before been used and is codenamed Operation Temperer, was first revealed after the November 2015 Paris terror attacks and is believed to allow up to 5,000 troops to be deployed.

British media said Abedi was born in Manchester, northwest England.

Police staged an armed raid on a Manchester address believed to be where Abedi lived, carrying out a controlled explosion to gain entry after arresting a 23-year-old man earlier Tuesday as part of the investigation.

Abedi was reported to be a former business student who dropped out of university.

Monday’s attack came just over two weeks before Britain votes in a general election and campaigning was suspended by all the main political parties.

It is the latest in a series of deadly incidents across Europe claimed by IS terrorists that have coincided with an offensive on IS redoubts in Syria and Iraq carried out by US, British and other western forces.

Threatening more attacks, IS said in a statement published on its social media channels: “One of the caliphate’s soldiers placed bombs among the crowds.”

The attack was the deadliest in Britain since July 7, 2005, when four suicide bombers inspired by Al-Qaeda attacked London’s transport system during rush hour, killing 52 people and wounding 700 more.