Manchester terror attack was especially evil, the young victims innocent in the truest sense – and an act of cowardice because their killer will not face justice
NOT for the first time, Manchester is shocked and united in grief today over the terrorist atrocity which claimed 22 young lives and maimed dozens more.
The Manchester Arena pop concert attack came 21 years after the IRA flattened the Arndale shopping centre with a 3,300lb lorry bomb, injuring hundreds.
And not for the first time, the people of Manchester rallied to help those hurt and horrified by this murderous attack.
Ordinary citizens rushed to help. Taxi drivers ferried survivors home, refusing to accept a fare.
Anguished parents waiting for their children after a joyous night out were left instead to wait to hear if they were still alive.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE MANCHESTER ARENA ATTACK
Today we launch a Together With Manchester appeal – to raise money for families of the victims of the Arena bomb.
News UK, publisher of The Sun, has made a corporate donation of £100,000 to the appeal.
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Leaders of all political parties abandoned their election campaigns and offered heartfelt thoughts of condolence to those who died and the families left behind.
All terrorist attacks are, by their nature, cowardly and despicable. But some, like last night's slaughter of young girls - some barely children - are especially evil.
These teenagers were innocent in the true sense of the word, utterly unaware of whatever perverted sense of grievance drove their killer and his accomplices to snatch away their lives.
Their "crime" may simply to have been fans of American singer Ariana Grande whose act appeals to just the age group apparently selected for Monday night's massacre.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE MANCHESTER ARENA ATTACK
Today we launch a Together With Manchester appeal – to raise money for families of the victims of the Arena bomb.
News UK, publisher of The Sun, has made a corporate donation of £100,000 to the appeal.
Here's how you can show your support....
ONLINE:
TEXT: Text TWMC50 and amount to 70070 – eg TWMC50 £5
(you can donate £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10)
One of the first victims named was 18-year-old Georgina Callander,a college student from Lancashire who described herself as an Ariana Grande "superfan".
Along with the other girls who died, her offence was perhaps to be young and free, dancing to music and enjoying themselves.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the killer deliberately chose a place where he could cause "maximum carnage" near the exit as people left.
At the time of writing it is not known who was to blame or whether their youthful pleasures were seen as punishable by death under some twisted interpretation of Islam.
But this suicide bombing bears all the hallmarks of similar atrocities against western targets around the world. The truck slaughter in Berlin and in Nice and the machine gunning of clubbers in Paris.
It was an act of cowardice because their killer is no longer alive to face justice. Even when we learn his identity, there will be little satisfaction in the death of yet another misfit.
Nobody cares about the driver killed after mowing down crowds at Westminster. He was just another name in an alphabet soup of murderous predecessors.
We will remember only those he pointlessly killed or injured.
It is little consolation that police are already rapidly rounding up possible accomplices. They might go to jail but that won't help the distraught victims and families whose lives have been changed forever.
Britain, France, Germany and others are now in the front line of violence as ordinary men and women are indiscriminately bombed, crushed or machine-gunned while going about their daily lives.
Thousands of disaffected young Muslim men have been identified by security services as potential terrorists, some trained in Pakistan or battle-hardened in Syria.
It may turn out that the person responsible for this despicable bloodbath was on their radar.
We cannot watch all of them all of the time. But we will need to crack down harder on those who take advantage of our hospitality to plot terror against their own fellow citizens.
It will pile pressure on the government to stop those leaving Britain to fight abroad from ever returning.
And it will force border security to monitor all those who come and go.
The leaders of all political parties have suspended campaigning as a mark of respect to those young girls who died.
But there is no doubt the Manchester Area bombing has put the issue of terrorism front and centre of the general election agenda.
It will eclipse the row over pensions and even negotiations on Brexit from now on.