MANCHESTER, England – Saffie Rose Roussos was at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22 when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device – killing at least 22 and injuring dozens, the Associated Press reported. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on May 23 for the suicide bombing.
The eight-year-old girl was confirmed dead after becoming separated from her mother and sister during the Manchester terror attack, the Telegraph says.
The uncle of the girl, Chris Roussos, informed the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Cyprus that his niece is dead, according to ANA.
The above was reported by an official of the Cypriot Foreign Ministry’s Crisis Management Center at ANA.
Saffie Rose Roussos died of her injuries after a terrorist committed the atrocity at the Ariana Grande concert on Mondaynight.
The headteacher at her school, Chris Upton, told the Guardian: “Saffie was simply a beautiful little girl in every aspect of the word. She was loved by everyone.”
The little girl was at the concert with her sister, Ashlee, and her mother, Lisa Roussos, along with 21,000 concert-goers. Mother and daughter are recovering in the hospital from their injuries, the AP reported, but young Saffie fell victim to the blast.
British authorities said the 8-year-old Saffie Roussos, was among the 22 people killed in the Manchester bombing. And an ambulance official says 12 children under the age of 16 were among 59 injured in the attack as people left the concert, as AP reported.
The suicide bomber blew himself up as young concert-goers left the show by in the northern English city of Manchester, killing at least 22 people, some wearing the Grande’s trademark kitten ears and holding pink balloons as they fled.
Teenage screams filled the arena just after the explosion Monday night, which also killed the attacker and injured dozens. British Prime Minister Theresa May said Manchester had fallen victim to “a callous terrorist attack.”
“We struggle to comprehend the warped and twisted mind that sees a room packed with young children not as a scene to cherish but as an opportunity for carnage,” she said.
Greater Manchester Police announced Tuesday that they had arrested a 23-year-old man in the south of the city in connection with the attack.
The attack sparked a nightlong search for loved-ones — parents for the children they had accompanied or had been waiting to pick up, and friends for each other after groups were scattered by the blast. Twitter and Facebook were filled with appeals for the missing.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, which took place at the end of the concert when the audience was streaming toward the exits. Witnesses said they saw bolts and other bits of metal, indicating the bomb may have contained shrapnel intended to maximize injuries.
Public transport shut down, and taxis offered to give stranded people free rides home, while residents opened their homes to provide lodging.
The concert was attended by thousands of young music fans in northern England. Grande, who was not injured, tweeted hours later: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”
May said authorities believe they have identified the attacker, but did not release the name. She said authorities were trying to determine if he had an accomplice.
Hayley Lunt was staying at a hotel nearby and had taken her 10-year-old daughter Abigail to her first concert at Manchester Arena on Monday evening.
She said the explosions rang out as soon as Grande left the stage. “It was almost like they waited for her to go.”
“We just ran as fast as we could to get away from that area,” Lunt said. “What should have been a superb evening is now just horrible.”
The explosion struck near the exit around 10:30 PM on Monday as Grande was ending the concert, part of her Dangerous Woman Tour. Police cars, bomb-disposal units and 60 ambulances raced to the scene as the scale of the carnage became clear. More than 400 officers were deployed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Supporters of the extremist Islamic State group, which holds territory in Iraq’s Mosul and around its de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa, celebrated the blast online.
President Donald Trump, in Bethlehem, said the attack preyed upon children and described those responsible as “evil losers.”
“This wicked ideology must be obliterated. And I mean completely obliterated,” he added.
The terrorist attack is the deadliest in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on subway trains and a bus in July 2005.
Jill Lawless, Associated Press
Gregory Katz, Associated Press
Katz reported from London. AP writer Leanne Italie in New York; AP Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Lori Hinnant and John Leiceister in Paris contributed.
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