Armed police in Manchester this morning. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire/PA Images
A number of security experts have suggested that last night's attack in Manchester is unlikely to have been carried out by a "lone wolf", and that it's likely the attacker had co-conspirators.Attacks that involve homemade explosives are complicated, and there aren't many individuals in the UK who have the expertise and the determination to plan such an attack alone. Fewer still would be able to do so without being detected by the security services.Chris Philips, former head of the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office, told the BBC:
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The prime minister, Theresa May, has said the police and security services believed the attack was carried out by one man, who is now dead, but are currently working out whether he was acting alone, or was part of a wider group. Manchester Police have already arrested one 23-year-old man in relation to last night's attack. They have also raided a separate flat in Royston Court on Carlton Road, Manchester.It appears that a manhunt is ongoing, but it's not yet clear who or what the police are searching for. Someone will have had to teach the attacker how to make a bomb, or have supplied him with it, but he also could conceivably have been taught in another country or via encrypted online communication.Read our updates on the ongoing situation in Manchester here."This was obviously a planned attack, and that will involve people looking at the venue, seeing how the venue operates. Also, the fact that it sounds like it was a strapped on suicide belt with perhaps dockyard confetti – the little bits of nuts and bolts attached to the vest – and those, unfortunately, are there deliberately to kill people… so this does look like a step up, and my worry – and I think the police's worry – is that this person probably wasn't acting alone and there are other people that need to be captured."