Vietnam condemns attack in Manchester as global leaders call it ‘inhumane’

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has sent his condolences to the U.K. after the suicide bombing that killed 22 people including children at a Manchester concert.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang on Tuesday also said that Vietnam strongly condemns any terrorist attack in any form and that all terrorist acts must be severely punished, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

She offered deep sympathy to the U.K. government, people and families of victims in the attack.

The Vietnamese embassy in the U.K. has said no Vietnamese citizen was reportedly hurt in the attack.

On Tuesday evening thousands of people attended a vigil in central Manchester in somber but defiant mood.

The first victims in the blast have been identified, including an eight-year-old girl and an 18-year-old health and social care student.

 

 

Vietnam condemns attack in Manchester as global leaders call it ‘inhumane’

Calls for unity at Manchester vigil

Manchester remained on high alert as soldiers have been deployed to key sites to boost security as the country raised its terror threat to the highest level of “critical.”

Reuters said the police have named British-born Salman Abedi, 22, the prime suspect in the U.K.’s deadliest attack since 2005, when four British Muslims killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London’s transport system.

Prime Minister Theresa May said another attack could be imminent as a wider group was possibly linked to the bombing.

May spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and several other foreign leaders on Tuesday about the attack, her spokesman said, as quoted by Reuters.

The White House said Trump had agreed with May during their telephone conversation that the attack was “particularly wanton and depraved.”

Macron and senior French ministers walked to the British embassy in Paris to sign the condolence book.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it “will only strengthen our resolve to ... work with our British friends against those who plan and carry out such inhumane deeds.”

The U.N. Security Council condemned “the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack” and expressed solidarity with Britain in the fight against terrorism.

Queen Elizabeth held a minute’s silence at a garden party at Buckingham Palace in London.