LONDON: The US government takes full responsibility for leaks of the British police investigation into Monday’s deadly bomb attack in Manchester which killed 22 people, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.
Appearing alongside British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in London, Tillerson said that “all across America, hearts are broken” at news of the attack on people attending a concert by US pop singer Ariana Grande.
British police briefly suspended intelligence sharing with the US on Thursday after private details of their investigation repeatedly appeared in American media.
“We take full responsibility for that and we obviously regret that that happened,” Tillerson said.
“With respect to the release of information inappropriately ... certainly we condemn that.”
Also Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron offered to help British Prime Minister Theresa May marshal support in the fight against terrorism.
“We will ... do everything we can in order to increase this cooperation at the European level, in order to do more from a bilateral point of view against terrorism. We will do that during the whole day, because that’s the common challenge,” the president told May at the San Domenico Palace Hotel, a former monastery in Taormina, Sicily.
May’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd has already urged technology firms to cooperate more with law enforcement agencies after it was reported that British-born Khalid Masood used encrypted messages moments before plowing his car into pedestrians and fatally stabbing a policeman outside Parliament in March.
Britain’s vote to leave the EU has raised fears about future security cooperation with the bloc, with both sides drawing up the battle lines for at least two years of talks that could quickly sour.
French sources said France and Britain had agreed to maintain close economic, security and diplomatic ties, despite Brexit.
Tillerson: US takes ‘full responsibility’ for Manchester intelligence leaks
Tillerson: US takes ‘full responsibility’ for Manchester intelligence leaks
