Pictures of an explosive device believed to be the one used in the attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, U.K., were leaked to the New York Times and published Wednesday. It’s a leak that has British officials furious at their American counterparts.
The pictures show fragments of a blue Karrimor backpack, with carefully packed shrapnel that consisted of nuts and screws, strewn across the lobby of the Manchester Arena.
The explosive device is expected to be the one that killed 22 people and injured over 50 others on Monday night, in an attack that the so-called Islamic State took responsibility for. Six people have been arrested in the past 48 hours in relation to the attack.
A 12-volt battery was also found at the site, which could be the bomb’s power source, the report says.
A cylindrical object found nearby could possibly be the detonator, though a bomb disposal technician told the Times it could be an electronic cigarette, or not related to the bomb at all.
While the size and type of explosive is not evident, the Times reported it was an “improvised device made with forethought and care.”
Along with pictures of the bomb, the Times also published a diagram of where the bodies of the victims were found.
The victims were in a circle around the suspected detonation, while the torso that is suspected to be the bomber’s, was found a ways away.
U.S. Republican Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told the Associated Press that the bomb used in the attack suggests a “level of sophistication” that could mean the person who made it had foreign training, and that it means it isn’t a “lone wolf situation.”
McCaul said the device used the explosive TATP, the same one used in the deadly November 2015 attacks in Paris and the March 2016 attack in Brussels carried out by Islamic State extremists.
McCaul was due to get an intelligence briefing on the Manchester attack later Wednesday.
Echoing the comments of British officials, he said: “There’s a network – a cell of ISIS-inspired terrorists.”
Government officials from the U.K. were furious after the leak, which is the second time sensitive information was released to the U.S. media.
“We are furious. This is completely unacceptable,” an anonymous government official told The Guardian.
“These images leaked from inside the U.S. system will be distressing for victims, their families and the wider public. The issue is being raised at every relevant level by the British authorities with their U.S. counterparts.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to bring up the leaks to U.S. President Donald Trump, when she meets him in Brussels for a NATO summit on Wednesday, the Telegraph reported.
U.S. intelligence officials also prematurely leaked information about the suspected bomber on Tuesday, which led to the publication of Salman Abedi’s name, as well the fact that the attack was a suicide bomb.
Earlier in the day, British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said she was “irritated” about the leak.
“The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise,” Rudd said.
The New York Times did not say where it got the photos.
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With files from the Associated Press
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