terrorism. they say this was a suspected terrorist attack. that has been confirmed in the last few minutes by manchester police. there isa minutes by manchester police. there is a lot of information coming on social media. but that is from greater manchester police, they say that this was a suspected terrorist attack. an incident in manchester, and just a bit more detail about that. we were told at the centre of this explosion was the foyer. as people were leaving, as many teenagers and young children were leaving that concert, the foyer was the main entrance and exit to manchester arena. it is in their way you can buy merchandise, where you can stop after the concert and get your scarf or post up. we have been told that that was the centre of this explosion. that has not been confirmed yet, another piece of information, we were talking to one man who was with two daughters at the concert, and he said after the blast he on the floor holding on to his wife, his leg was shattered and was bleeding, and all around him he could see nuts and bolts on the floor. that is just what one man has said to us, it has not been confirmed by police. we expect more from the police at two a.m.. they have confirmed to me, greater manchester police has confirmed that this was a suspected terrorist incident. just while you have been speaking, greater manchester police have tweeted that there will be a controlled explosion in cathedral gardens shortly, and they are telling people if they hear anything not to be concerned. how far is that from you, do you know? let me tell you where we are. as we from you, do you know? let me tell you where we are. as we were from you, do you know? let me tell you where we are. as we were saying before, this was... so that was the controlled explosion they are just talking about. there is quite a bit of panic here. we are using mobile phone to film this, as well. so to give you some sense of where that is, as you can see, the blue lights of the police cars at the end there, cathedral gardens is just to the left of that. to the right you can see manchester cathedral. it is around 300, 350 metres. and in the last few seconds that seconds, controlled explosion carried out from where ed thomas was talking. give us a sense of how people are and how they are reacting to the events there. disbelief. we have spoken to families with young children with the permission of their parents, and they were just in com plete their parents, and they were just in complete shock. they did want to talk, they did want to tell us what they had seen and witnessed. and what all we can quite understand here, at the end of this concert, why this happened and who would have done such a thing —— nobody can quite understand. we're waiting from greater manchester to as those questions. we expect more from them at 2am this morning. police have told me they will be a press conference down here. amid all that chaos, what is going on to help people tried to find missing relatives, daughters, sons, or children who have simply not known what to do in all of this panic? well, we have been told that unaccompanied minors have been taken toa unaccompanied minors have been taken to a hotel just unaccompanied minors have been taken to a hoteljust around the corner, around 30 young children, and now it is an unofficial pick—up point for pa rents is an unofficial pick—up point for parents who are worried. to give you a sense of what is happening here in manchester as well, we saw one gentleman with two very young children. one was 12, one was ten. he was on his phone, he was asking for directions, he lived in lancashire, and just wanted to get out of the city. he had no idea how to get away, he couldn't hail a taxi. as i say, we have seen police officers in taxis to get here. and a man who lived in the city came down here to offer to give the man left, just to him away. so people who do live in the city are coming out and helping other people. we have seen another young man with bottles of water, just handing them out to people who have gone to the concert. so many people are confused here. they just cannot so many people are confused here. theyjust cannot get their heads around what has happened here. and just to confirm from greater manchester police that they have carried out a controlled explosion in the cathedral gardens area. you felt it, it was just behind you. yes, you might have heard it as well. it was around 300m... you might be able to see the blue flashing lights. just to the left is cathedral gardens. we think that is where this controlled explosion was carried out. so that would have been a suspected device that police have found. they are taking no chances. they were getting rid of it, hence the controlled explosion. it was a large bang. people stand around in shock, saying what the hell was that? so it was some device being exploded there. so that is two confirmed explosion that have happened, of course one at manchester arena and just to recap what we have been told, that explosion happened in the foyer. it was the place where it once you have been to the concert you buy your merchandise, that is where this explosion happened, and that confirmation in the last few minutes from manchester police, that they are treating this as a terrorist incident. ed thomas, in manchester, right by manchester arena, thank you very much. just to recap that we now know that 19 people have been killed, and around 50 people injured, ina killed, and around 50 people injured, in a suspected terrorist attack at manchester arena. it happened at around 10:35pm local time, following a pop concert by the american singer ariana grande. still with me is our correspondent andy moore. it still seems to be unfolding and this police operation going on into the night. that's right, and just some information from manchester arena. they have issued a brief statement. they say we can confirm there was an incident as people were leaving the ariana grande show last night. the incident took place outside the venue, in a public space. our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims. that is from manchester arena, saying it was actually outside their venue in a public space. and that confirms the reports we have had that it was in the foyer area, but it was in the ticket area, that the people as they we re ticket area, that the people as they were waiting outside the arena, or people were just leaving the arena. it seems the incident was times, the explosion happened at the end of the concert —— the incident was timed. the explosion happened at the end of the concert as people were leaving the concert as people were leaving the arena so it seems that the explosion, which is being treated as a terrorist incident, was timed to cause maximum casualties. we heard from ed thomas talking to one eyewitness. he talked about nuts and bolts on the floor. they may have come from the explosion. that may have been shrapnel that was in the device, another eyewitness talked about the smell of explosives. so thatis about the smell of explosives. so that is why, certainly in the initial stages, a lot of people were fairly convinced it was a bomb, and that has been confirmed now by police. one of the people inside manchester arena at the time was karen ford. she was at the concert with her family. we karen ford. she was at the concert with herfamily. we have been speaking to her. my daughter and i attended this evening. my husband drove us, they were outside. but we were just leaving the concert. ariana grande had left, the lights had come up, everybody was just getting out of their seats and walking towards the stairs, when all of a sudden this huge sound, which sounded like a explosion, went off. and this was just after the end of the concert. what was people's reaction? everybodyjust stopped and turned around, and somebody shouted, "it's a bomb, run!" and everybody started running. people were trying to push people up the stairs. there was a lady in a wheelchair trying to get away. she was absolutely hysterical, bless her, people werejust pushing past her. i held them back while she actually got out of the stairwell. and a person that was with her took her to safety. but the problem was, a lot of children were there without parents. there was no one to calm them down, so people were just screaming and crying and pushing. there wasn't any smoke, there wasn't any flash, it literally was just a huge sound, just a huge bang. and, as far as you can tell, there was just a single bang, was it? yes, only one. because there were reports of maybe a couple of explosions. yes, my husband heard a second one outside, because they were outside. but as he came out of the stairwell, there wasn't a steward to be seen on the side that we were exiting. everyone had just gone. it was just chaos, nothing was organised. there were shoes on the floor where people have ran. shoes had fallen off. it was absolutely awful. and karen, when you heard that noise, was there any doubt in your mind about what it might have been? i must say, i didn't think it was a bomb at first, because there was nothing else to go with it. it was just a huge sound in the left—hand corner. and obviously, as we came out, and came out of the tunnel, to come out of the building, all the emergency services were on the street, you could hear the sirens, and then obviously when we got in the car to leave, we heard the awful news that people have actually died there tonight. and you mentioned your husband heard something outside, as well as what you heard inside the venue. yes, yes. so it could have been a double explosion? it could have been, yes. but we only heard the one. it was very, very loud. you said people couldn't make their way out in a calm fashion. it was absolute chaos, was it? yes, chaos. yes and i said to children it was a balloon that went off, it was not a bomb, just to try and reassure people and keep people calm. because we were being crushed as we were exiting, as we were going up the stairs and out through the doors. so i wouldn't be surprised if people have been injured through actually being crushed this evening. karen, i was going to ask you, did it seem to you that people were being injured in the process of trying to leave the venue? yes, yes. yeah, there were shoes — people, as they were running, had left the odd shoe just lying around, where people had just run and left them. there was lots of stairs going up, going down. it was awful. karen, where are you now, what are you doing? we've just got back home. we live in sheffield. and were people congregating outside the venue, or were they trying to get as far away as possible, as quickly as possible? some people were trying to get away outside, because there were children on their own. they were teenagers on phones trying to contact their parents. there was parents crying on their phones. so everybody was trying to find each other. and did it seem like people were completely unaware of what was really going on? did it seem like a real atmosphere of confusion and panic? it was. a few people had shouted it was a bomb, and the emergency services were coming down the street, and people thought there was obviously something seriously wrong. did the members of the emergency services give any idea of what might have happened, when people were asking them? well, no, they werejust asking people to move away from the building as quickly as possible. which we did. as soon as i met up with my husband, we just carried on walking, and just got as far away as possible, as quickly as possible. and how are you all now? not too bad. i think reality has just sunk in, that we've been to a pop concert, which should have been a family affair, and that people have died there tonight. now we know that 19 people have been killed under around 50 people injured in that suspected terrorist attack —— and around 50 people injured. we were talking bear about the number of possible explosions. there was an explosion in the foyer of manchester arena, but we have also the last few minutes a controlled explosion not far away from manchester arena in an area called cathedral gardens. andy moore is still with me. and they gave a few minutes' warning to tell people if you hear another blast, do not panic. that's right, we heard the explosion live as we were broadcasting, so that was a controlled explosion. we now know that this is being treated as a terrorist incident. and we are getting information, ialluded terrorist incident. and we are getting information, i alluded to this earlier on, from sources in the states. we a re this earlier on, from sources in the states. we are getting an information —— information from us officials saying that a suicide bomber is suspected in the explosion. we haven't heard that officially from greater manchester police but according to sources in the states it was a suicide bomber. we heard from our correspondent, ed thomas, who had been talking to eyewitness is there. he talked about nuts and bolts being found on the floor. they may have been debris from the explosion, but it could also have been shrapnel which is often included in a suicide bomb, on occasions like this, so that is one possibility. we are hoping to get an update from greater manchester police in the press conference in about 15 minutes' time. we are