No words, least of all ours, can be enough to fully describe our reactions to the Manchester Arena explosion which has killed, so far, 22 people, many of them children.
They had gone to a concert by a popular signer, Ariana Grande, who is very popular especially with teens. Most of the 21,000 in the audience were teenagers, some accompanied by their mothers, others on their own.
The choice of timing and place of explosion was diabolical: the concert had just ended and many in the audience were moving towards the exits – which is where the explosion took place.
It is very significant that many of the youngsters in the audience thought the sound was that of a balloon bursting until the full truth hit them. Then huge panic set in, which maybe was the terrorist’s intention all along.
There was no advance notice, a deterioration compared to IRA terror bombs in the past. In what has become a leit-motif of terrorist attacks in recent months across Europe, it seems this was the act by a single man, as yet unidentified. The bomb seems to have been an improvised device, which again reinforces the impression this mad act was the work of one single deranged person.
In the coming hours, as more details emerge and as forensic investigations find further clues, more information will be built.
The young people were out to enjoy themselves, listening to their favourite singer, being together, singing and doing whatever teenagers do at concerts. They were soft targets, the kind of targets terrorists seem to prefer rather than engage in fighting armed soldiers or police.
This is Manchester, which has two very important football clubs and consequently very important matches, all of which have passed without hitch.
It would seem, from some initial comments made on news media, that security at the Arena was maybe not as strict as it should have been. Certainly, if body searches had been in place as they are now standard at football matches, maybe the terrorist would have been stopped. But that is for later, after a full and thorough investigation has been carried out.
The terrorist attack came right in the middle of the election campaign for the 8 June election. Seen from here, it would not seem the tragedy can affect the outcome of the election, which makes the whole thing even more mysterious. What we can think of at the moment is this is again an act of absolute evil, targeting children and soft targets, showing just pure and immense hatred.
The aim of terror attacks is always the same: to make the civilian population quake in fear, live in fear, introduce draconian police measures that make people come to ultimately hate the forces of law and order hence hastening the general revolution all terrorists aspire to. This is why it is important that life picks up and goes on as usual without succumbing to fear.