New bomb scare hits Manchester

POLICE who rushed to a special-needs school in Manchester´s Hulme area following reports of a suspicious package have now declared the area safe.

Bomb disposal experts and ten police vans attended the Castlefield Campus specialist school in the South of Manchester this morning amid reports of “an explosion,”  while one witness reported seeing a man pinned to the ground by officers.

Police initially cordoned off the roads surrounding the school, as well as one of the city´s main thoroughfares, Mancunian Way, but have now allowed traffic to pass again.

This latest scare follows a raft of arrests in connection with Monday´s suicide bomb attack at the hands of 22-year-old Salman Abedi at a Manchester Arena concert, which killed 22 adults and young people. 

Police in the UK have now detained eight people, including Abedi´s 23-year-old brother, Ismail, while his younger brother Hashem, 20 years-old, and father, Ramadan, were arrested in Lybia amid fears his family may have been involved in the attack and planning further atrocities. 

Meanwhile a minute´s silence in honour of the attack´s victims was held across the UK at 11am GMT, with crowds gathering in Manchester´s St Ann´s Square, as well as Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square in London. 

The Queen has also honoured victims today, visiting children injured in the attack at the Royal Manchester Children´s Hospital.  The monarch is currently touring the hospital meeting several of the 14 victims, all under 16, being treated there.