Bomber was on MI 5’ s radar
TROOPS ON BRITISH STREETS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2007 TERROR ATTACK Manchester killer Abedi probably had help, says interior minister.
Britain ordered soldiers to key sites yesterday after going on maximum alert for fear of an imminent new terror strike following a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester.
Security services believe the suspected bomber, Salman Abedi, was likely to have had help from others in staging the massacre that killed 22 people including one girl aged just eight.
Interior minister Amber Rudd said the 22-year-old had been on the radar of the intelligence community before the attack late Monday at a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande.
Security services were trying to piece together the last movements of Abedi, a Briton of Libyan descent, amid media reports he had travelled recently to Libya and possibly Syria.
Rudd declined to give any further information about Abedi but told BBC radio: “It was a devastating occasion, it was more sophisticated than some of the attacks we’ve seen before, and it seems likely – possible – that he wasn’t doing this on his own.”
The minister said she was “not surprised at all” that the attack had been claimed by the Islamic State group but said there was no information yet to confirm the extremist organisation’s active direction.
Prime Minister Theresa May placed the country on its highest level of terror alert – critical – for the first time since June 2007, following an attack on Glasgow Airport.
The last time troops were deployed on British streets was after an airliner plot in 2007.
Troops will fan out at sites such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster and foreign embassies in London to free up armed police for antiterror duties.
May said a new attack “may be imminent” but the authorities stressed that the soldiers would remain under police command.
“This is a temporary arrangement in order to respond to an exceptional event,” Rudd said.
The attack was the deadliest in Britain since July 7, 2005, when four suicide bombers inspired by Al-Qaeda attacked London’s transport system during rush hour, killing 52 people.
A Polish couple living in Britain were confirmed among the Manchester victims, along with 15-year-old Olivia Campbell, whose mother had issued heartrending appeals for help when her daughter was still listed as missing.
Next to a photograph of Olivia, Charlotte Campbell wrote on Facebook: “RIP my darling precious gorgeous girl Olivia Campbell taken far far to soon go sing with the angels and keep smiling mummy loves you so much.”
A total of 59 people were taken to hospital, many with life-threatening conditions. Twelve of them were aged under 16.
British media said Abedi was born in Manchester. – AFP