More than 250 survivors of the bombing that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert are taking legal action against Britain’s domestic intelligence service.
LONDON — More than 250 survivors of the bombing that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, in 2017 have filed a lawsuit against Britain’s domestic intelligence service, lawyers said.
Lawyers from three law firms said on Sunday they had submitted a collective complaint on behalf of more than 250 clients to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal. They said they could not provide further details because it was an ongoing legal matter.
Suicide bomber Salman Abedi planted a backpack bomb in the Manchester Arena at the end of Grande’s concert on May 22, 2017, as thousands of young fans were leaving. More than 100 people were injured, including many children and adolescents. Abedi died in the explosion.
An official investigation found last year that Britain’s intelligence agency, MI5, failed to act quickly enough on key information and missed a significant opportunity to prevent the bombing, the deadliest extremist attack in the UK in recent years.
Abedi had been a “subject of interest” to MI5 officials in 2014, but his case was closed soon after because he was considered low risk.
The report also reveals that an MI5 officer admitted that he considered the intelligence on Abedi to be a possible national security issue, but did not discuss it quickly enough with his colleagues.
Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, said in a rare televised statement that he was “deeply sorry” that his agency was unable to prevent the attack.
