Religion strikes again

I've spent most of the morning reading the news about the terrorist attack in Manchester, UK.  A suicide bomber detonated his bomb at one of the exits from the Manchester Arena, the largest enclosed concert venue in Europe.  The explosion happened at the end of the event, among audience members (largely teenagers) leaving the arena and parents waiting to pick them up.  Confirmed casualties so far are 22 killed and 59 injured, numbers which will probably increase.  Countless ordinary people have rallied to help the victims.  More pictures and reactions here.

The attack could have been even worse.  Like most such venues in the UK, the Manchester Arena has excellent security, and the bomber did not attempt to enter, attacking instead outside an exit point.  If he had been able to get inside and set off the bomb in the midst of the audience, there would probably have been far more casualties.  This shows that security can mitigate the effects of terror attacks, but it's impossible to completely eliminate them.

It hasn't yet been officially confirmed that this was a jihadist attack, but come on -- a suicide bombing at a pop music concert?  In any case, it should be confirmed soon enough.  The police already know the name of the bomber, though they haven't yet released it, and have arrested another person in connection with the attack.  Bombings take more skill and preparation than one might think, and are almost never the work of one person acting alone.  The police throughout Europe have a good track record of detecting and stopping planned attacks before they are carried out; those who can avoid discovery are not amateurs.  If this turns out to be the work of a major jihadist organization such as Dâ'ish (ISIL), they can expect massive retaliation, such as France delivered after the Paris attacks of 2015.