Jihad? Gas leak? “Right-wing extremists”? No way to tell at this point. But Muslim spokesmen who whine about “Islamophobia” and Muslims being subjected to unjust suspicion have no one but their violent coreligionists to blame for the fact that when events like this one happen, people think immediately about jihad.
“BREAKING NEWS: Several people killed and many injured after two explosions in Manchester Arena at the end of Ariana Grande gig as bloodied concertgoers flee in terror,” by Thomas Burrows, MailOnline, May 22, 2017:
Several people have been killed after two explosions inside Manchester Arena at the end of an Ariana Grande gig tonight.
Video footage showed people fleeing in tears from the venue after bangs rang out immediately after the concert finished.
Bloodied concertgoers were pictured being helped by emergency services outside the gig and armed police were seen patrolling the arena.
Evie Brewster, who attended the concert, told MailOnline: ‘Ariana Grange had just finished her last song and left the stage when a huge explosion sounded.
‘Suddenly everybody started screaming and running for the exit.
‘We could hear the police and ambulance sirens. It was terrifying.
‘There were thousands of people trying to get out at once. They were all screaming and crying. The whole place smelt smokey and burnt.
‘The explosion sounded like it was inside the building somewhere.’
Manchester Victoria train station, next door to the arena, is currently closed and trains are currently unable to run to or from the station.
Greater Manchester Police said emergency services had responded to a ‘serious incident’ at the arena.
Jonathan Yates, 24, from the Wirral, who attended the gig, told MailOnline: ‘The concert had finished and the lights came on almost instantly. There was a bang, a weird bang. There were lots of balloons but I thought to myself that can’t be a balloon, that’s not normal.
‘We were sat on the floor level and it came from the higher seats, people were running and screaming. Everyone stopped and I turned to my friend and said ‘we need to run’. Everyone was running and screaming and then when we got out it felt a bit more OK.
‘I heard five or six bangs that sounded like gunshots. When we got outside people were outside, crying and on their phones.
‘You don’t think it’s something that’s going to happen when you go…it was such a nice, fun concert.’ …