The explosive device used in the Manchester terror attack on Monday evening that has so far been responsible for 22 fatalities and dozens of injuries was worryingly sophisticated, according to a U.K.-based security expert.
“The type of weapon is disturbing in some ways because a functioning bomb is actually a fairly sophisticated device to make,” Raffaello Pantucci, director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told CNBC Tuesday.
“There are easy bombs and there are harder bombs but it does always require a certain level of technical ability which either requires a certain amount of training or some practice or some sort of technical skills. And that’s always quite worrying,” he added, noting that many aspiring bombmakers try and fail.
Observing the more common trend in recent years for U.K. terror perpetrators to select cars or knives as the weapon of choice, the security expert said the level of sophistication needed to construct this device will have authorities asking whether the operative was a part of a larger operation.
“To build a successful bomb, that actually will detonate at the right moment that you need it to, requires a little bit more effort and skill. To have one that actually works and to such deadly effect is certainly a disturbing feature of this particular attack,” Pantucci commented.
The attack took place within one of the U.K.’s largest cities which is located in the country’s north and counts a population of over half a million people. Ian Hopkins, chief constable of the Greater Manchester Police, said Tuesday that police believe the attack was carried out by one man who had an improvised explosive device and who also died in the bombing.
