Ariana Grande Manchester Concert Bombing Could Have Been Avoided: Report

A report from the most recent result of a public inquiry in London has concluded that the Ariana Grande Manchester Concert bombing in 2017 could have been avoided should authorities have acted on the leads they have months before.

According to Billboard, Public Inquiry Chair John Saunders said in a statement that there was a "realistic possibility" that the whole incident could have been stopped, but because the M15 British Security Service did not act decisively on the intelligence that they obtained, the fatal attack ensued.

Saunders further noted that the intelligence that M15 obtained at the time was "not fully appreciated" at the time.

Ariana Grande Manchester Concert Bombing

On May 2017, 22-year-old Islamist extremist suicide bomber Salman Ramadan Abedi detonated a homemade bomb in Manchester Arena as people started to leave the Ariana Grande concert that took place in the area.

More than 1,000 people were injured and 23 people were killed including Abedi. Hundred more concertgoers suffered psychological trauma because of the shocking terrorist attack.

Condolences from countries all over the world have poured out in the aftermath of the bombing. Grande, on the other hand, was marked safe from the bombing.

The month after, Grande held One Love Manchester, a benefit concert hoping to raise funds for victims of the attack that happened. It was reported that the concert have successfully raised £10 million, and an additional £17 million by August 2022, as several high-profile singers performed for free in the spirit of togetherness.

Ariana Grande Manchester Concert Bombing

Based on the report that Billboard has cited, the 207-page report that the public inquiry has published painstakingly detailed the radicalization of Abedi. But it is important to note that it did not cite other intelligence because of national security reasons.

However, Saunders pointed fingers at M15 for failing to communicate the intelligence they have obtained to counter-terror-police, thus the shocking terrorist attack. He described this as a further example of a communication breakdown between M15 and other related security agencies of the country.

It also pointed out that if the M15 officer have discussed the intelligence with his co-officers, they could have stopped Abedi from the Manchester airport from his return from Libya.

"The fact that MI5 failed to stop [Salman Abedi] despite all of the red flags available demonstrates they are not fit to keep us safe and therefore not fit for purpose," said Andrew Roussos said, the father of an 8-year-old victim who died because of the "cataclysmic failure" of M15.

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