- More than 250 survivors of the 2017 Manchester attack are suing the British secret service MI5.
- An investigative report previously revealed intelligence agency failures without which the suicide bomber could have been stopped.
- Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, has apologized to those affected for the lapses.
The suicide attack on a concert hall in Manchester, UK, in 2017 killed 22 people. Over 100 were injured, many of them children and teenagers. Seven years later, more than 250 survivors of the suicide attack at Ariana Grande’s performance are now taking legal action against the British domestic secret service MI5.
Lawyers from three law firms said on Sunday they had filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of more than 250 clients in Britain’s investigative powers court. They were unable to provide further details as it was an ongoing legal matter.
Reacted too slowly
An official investigation concluded last year that Britain’s MI5 failed to act quickly enough on key information and missed a key opportunity to prevent the bombing – the deadliest extremist attack in Britain in recent years.
The future assassin was of interest to MI5 officers in 2014, but his case was dropped shortly afterwards because he was deemed low risk. The perpetrator died in the explosion.
MI5 chief apologizes
The report also found that an MI5 official admitted that he viewed information about the eventual assassin as a possible national security problem, but had not discussed it quickly enough with his colleagues.
Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, said in a rare televised statement that he was “deeply sorry” that his agency had been unable to prevent the attack.