EVEN as they digested the news that local man Salman Abedi was the murderous Manchester suicide bomber, thousands of Mancunians gathered in the city centre yesterday evening in a show of togetherness and defiance against terrorism following the bombing of the Manchester Arena in which 22 people died on Tuesday night.

Other vigils sprang up across the UK, including in Glasgow. In Manchester, they came together for a multi-faith community vigil as families continued to search for missing children.

One of them is Eilidh MacLeod, 14, from the Hebridean island of Barra, whose trip to attend Ariana Grande’s concert was a birthday present.

Her friend from the island, 15-year-old Laura MacIntyre, was found yesterday afternoon in hospital having suffered severe burns — it was the first concert Laura had attended.

Donald Manford, a local councillor and great uncle of Eilidh, said that Laura “is very seriously injured and ill”.

Manford was awaiting news on Eilidh: “She’s a very vibrant young person, who’s very involved in the community. When we have ceilidhs, she’s a dancer and a piper. It’s a very anxious time.”

Eilidh’s mother Marion had been awaiting the girls in a nearby hotel and began a frantic search after they failed to appear.

Western Isles MP Angus McNeil, from Barra, which has a population of just 1000, had appealed for information on the whereabouts of the girls. He said: “People are in shock. If you don’t know the kids, you will know their parents or their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.”

At least four other Scots were among those injured, but the fear is that others will be named as the Manchester concert was the nearest to Scotland that the popular Grande was playing.

More than a dozen other youngsters have been named on social media as missing, with 12 children among the 59 people hospitalised after being injured in the blast, which came just after the singer’s performance had finished.

The names of the dead began to be released late yesterday afternoon, the first victims named being eight-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos from Leyland in Lancashire, Georgina Callander, 18, and John Atkinson, 28. Further names will be released as victims are identified and their families informed.

It was 10.30pm on Tuesday when Abedi blew himself up in the foyer of the Manchester Arena, which adjoins Manchester Victoria Station, as the mainly young audience began to leave. Witnesses spoke of nuts and bolts flying everywhere, suggesting that Abedi had constructed a sophisticated type of nail bomb that was designed to inflict maximum carnage.

The son of Libyan refugees who fled the regime of Colonel Gadaffi, Abedi’s home and previous addresses were raided by police yesterday. Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said searches had been carried out at two addresses, including one in Fallowfield, where a controlled explosion had been used to gain access.

An as yet unnamed 23-year-old man was arrested during the operation.

Hopkins said: “There has been much speculation and names of those who may have been killed in the media and social media.

“We accept that this is inevitable, however, we ask that people allow the police and coroner to release the names once the families are ready and appropriately supported.”

The response of the police and the emergency services and the generosity and concern displayed by the people of Manchester in the wake of the atrocity has been universally praised, with all campaigning for the General Election suspended as politicians spoke about the horrendous events and the unified reaction to it.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made a statement to the Scottish Parliament in which she confirmed that four people injured in Manchester had attended Scottish hospitals but their injuries were not life-threatening.

She added: “My thoughts, those of this Parliament — indeed, the thoughts of all the people of Scotland — are with those who have lost loved ones or sustained injuries in this dreadful atrocity.

“There can be nothing more cowardly than attacking children and young people enjoying a fun night out.

“Across Scotland we stand in solidarity with the people of Manchester — a great and proud city with which so many people in Scotland share a close affinity.”

Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as “absolutely barbaric”. She paid a private visit to Manchester Children’s Hospital and spoke to police and Manchester’s political leaders, including Greater Manchester’s Labour Mayor Andy Burnham.

The Prime Minister said: “This was among the worst terrorist incidents we have ever experienced in the UK and although it is not the first time Manchester has suffered in this way it is the worst attack the city has experienced and the worse ever to hit the north of England.

“All acts of terrorism are cowardly attacks on innocent people but this attack stands out for its appalling, sickening cowardice, deliberately targeting innocent, defenceless children and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives.”

Her Majesty the Queen issued a statement: “The whole nation has been shocked by the death and injury in Manchester last night of so many people, adults and children, who had just been enjoying a concert. I know I speak for everyone in expressing my deepest sympathy to all who have been affected by this dreadful event and especially to the families and friends of those who have died or were injured.”

World leaders sent messages of condolence, with President Donald Trump calling such terrorists “evil losers”, while fund-raising efforts to assist the families of those dead and injured were heading for the £1 million mark last night.

As a short vigil of sympathy and solidarity got under way in Glasgow’s George Square, the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Eddy Newman, told the simultaneous vigil in Manchester: “The people of Manchester will remember the victims forever and we will defy the terrorists by working together to create cohesive, diverse communities that are stronger together. We are the many, they are the few.”

Chief Constable Hopkins said: “The people of Greater Manchester showed the people of the world how much we care, how much we care about one another, and how much we care for those in need.”

He also thanked “the rest of the world for holding us in their thoughts".