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Ariana Breaks Her Silence! Grande Vows, 'I'll Be Returning To Manchester'

Ariana Grande Manchester Attack Statement
Source: MEGA/Getty Images

May 26 2017, Updated 7:47 p.m. ET

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Ariana Grande has finally released a message to her mourning fans after the “heinous” and “evil” bombing at her Manchester concert Monday night.

The Dangerous Woman tour was suspended indefinitely after the attack that killed 22 people and injured over 100. But Grande vows that she will "be returning to Manchester," no matter what.

“My heart, prayers and deepest condolences are with the victims of the Manchester attack and their loved ones," a statement released Friday reads. "There is nothing I or anyone can do to take away the pain you're feeling or to make this better. However, I extend my hand and heart and everything I possibly can give to you and yours, should you want or need my help in any way. The only thing we can do now is choose how we let this affect us and how we live our lives from here on out.”

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Grande returned to her hometown of Boca Raton the day after the attack, and sources close to the singer told RadarOnline.com she has been “inconsolable” since the concert.

“I have been thinking of my fans, and all of you, nonstop over the past week," she continued. "The way you have handled all of this has been more inspiring and made me more proud than you'll ever know. The compassion, kindness, love, strength and oneness that you've shown one another this past week is the exact opposite of the heinous intentions it must take to pull off something as evil as what happened Monday. You are the opposite. I am sorry for the pain and fear that you must be feeling and for the trauma that you, too, must be experiencing.”

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 23, has been named as the man behind the killings, and his father and two brothers have since been arrested by authorities as well.

Grande expressed her shock over the brutality of the killing.

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“We will never be able to understand why events like this take place because it is not in our nature, which is why we shouldn't recoil," she wrote. "We will not quit or operate in fear. We won't let this divide us. We won't let hate win. I don't want to go the rest of the year without be able to see and hold and uplift my fans, the same way they continue to uplift me. Our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder and to live more kindly and generously than we did before.”

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To that end, she broke the news that she will be returning to the scene of the crime for a benefit concert.

“I'll be returning to the incredibly brave city of Manchester to spend time with my fans and to have a benefit concert in honor of and to raise money for the victims and their families," Grande revealed. "I want to thank my fellow musicians and friends for reaching out to be a part of our expression of love for Manchester. I will have details to share with you as soon as everything is confirmed. From the day we started putting the Dangerous Woman tour together, I said the show, more than anything else, was intended to be a safe space for my fans. A place for them to escape, to celebrate, to heal, to feel safe and to be themselves. To meet their friends they've made online. To express themselves. This will not change that. When you look into the audience at my shows, you see a beautiful, diverse, pure, happy crowd. Thousands of people, incredibly different, all there for the same reason, music.”

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With victims as young as 8 years old, and many of her injured fans being young girls, Grande touted the power of unity with her performances.

“Music is something that everyone on Earth can share," she wrote. "Music is meant to heal us, to bring us together, to make us happy. So that is what it will continue to do for us. We will continue in honor of the ones we lost, their loved ones, my fans and all affected by this tragedy. They will be on my mind and in my heart every day and I will think of them with everything I do for the rest of my life.”

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