Manchester attack: One arrested as terror raids continue

The Greater Manchester Police have arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with the Manchester Arena bomb attack on Tuesday even as Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the "sickening cowardice" of the perpetrator.

The police detained a man in the south of the city after raiding a flat in a newly-built four-storey block of apartments in Carlton Street in Whalley Range in an operation linked with the attack that killed 22 people and injured 59 others.

The police carried out a controlled explosion after a raid in nearby Fallowfield as hundreds of police swarmed through the city in the aftermath of the blast.

After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting, May said, "All acts of terrorism are cowardly attacks on innocent people, but this attack stands out for its appalling, sickening cowardice, deliberately targetting innocent, defenceless children and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights."

The Prime Minister said, "The police and emergency services have as always acted with courage and on behalf of the country I want to express our gratitude to them. They acted in accordance with the plans they have in place and the exercises they conduct to test those plans and they performed with the utmost professionalism."

There has been no official claim of responsibility for the atrocity, but both the ISIS and the al-Qaeda have been calling for attacks on the West and have issued bomb-making guides.