Islamic State supporters celebrated on social media after a blast at a Manchester concert venue in the north of England killed at least 19 people and wounded 59, although the militant Islamist group has not formally claimed responsibility. British police have said they are treating the blast at the Manchester Arena at the end of a concert by U.S. singer Ariana Grande as a (MUSLIM?) “terrorist incident.”
Twitter accounts affiliated to Islamic State have used hashtags referring to the blast to post celebratory messages, with some users encouraging similar attacks elsewhere. Some messages described the attack as an act of revenge in response to air strikes in Iraq and Syria.
“It seems that bombs of the British airforce over children of Mosul and Raqqa has just came back to #Manchester,” one user named Abdul Haqq said on Twitter, in reference to the Iraqi and Syrian cities held by the militants where a U.S.-led coalition, of which Britain is a member, is conducting air strikes.