A police spokesman said he could not provide details as to the ages of the victims, but conceded that children may have been among the dead or wounded as a result of the atrocity.
Last England saw such a deadly terror attack was in 2005 when on July 7, terrorists carried out a series of coordinated suicide bomb attacks in central London which targeted civilians using the public transport system during the rush hour.
Hopkins said police are working with national counterterrorism experts to investigate the explosion. The 23-year-old pop singer was uninjured in the incident, according to Joseph Carozza, a representative from Grande's record label.
People have been asked to avoid the area while Manchester's Victoria station, which backs onto the arena, has been evacuated and all trains cancelled. Frantic parents called out for their children.
"We must all commit ourselves to working together, in every way, to help the victims and their families and to build and strengthen our community solidarity", said Bishop John Arnold, of Salford, the Catholic diocese in which Manchester is located. It was really scary" https://t.co/uM1vulqxzK- Manchester News MEN (@MENnewsdesk) May 23, 2017 "It was a huge explosion - you could feel it in your chest.
"Everyone was screaming and running, " Robert Tempkin, 22, told The Times.
Nineteen people have been killed in a "serious incident" at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, police have said. "Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased & prayers with the injured", Prime Minister Modi tweeted.
- Theresa May's ruling Conservative Party, which has a big lead in opinion polls, is preparing to suspend June 08 election campaigning due to the blast. "This is now being treated as a terrorist incident until police know otherwise", police said in a statement.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was expected to host a meeting of the Scottish Government's Resilience Committee on Tuesday morning in response to the explosion.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his condolences to Queen Elizabeth while French President Emmanuel Macron said he would discuss the fight against terrorism with May. Police raised the death toll to 22 early Tuesday, and dozens more have been reported injured.
Police confirmed it was a suicide attack.
"Obviously, it's a very serious incident and we will be paying very close attention throughout the day to the unfolding events".
The taxi companies posted messages about the free rides on Twitter after the explosion.
We take a look at the terrorist attacks of 2016.
Police departments in the USA, including Chicago, are monitoring the Manchester situation.
Panic was triggered among the mostly young audience by the blast which took place as they were leaving a concert by the American artist Ariana Grande, said the police.
Social media posts from the scene showed panicked concertgoers running down the arena's stairs in an attempt to get away. I've got people I don't even know looking for her, people messaging me, saying we've got her photo, looking for her, we'll get in contact if we see her.
A further 50 were injured in the explosion which happened at the end of a concert by United States singer Ariana Grande, around 10.30pm local time.
Concert-goer Catherine Macfarlane has told Reuters she felt the blast in her chest before chaos erupted in the venue.