Khaleej Times

Manchester bomber network ‘still at large’

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manchester — Members of Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi’s network are still potentiall­y at large, British interior minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday, after the terrorism threat level was lowered due to significan­t progress in the investigat­ion.

Police said they have arrested a large part of the network behind the bombing, including a 14th person held on Sunday as police continued to close in on the group.

Asked during an interview on BBC television whether some of the group were still at large, Rudd said: “Potentiall­y. It is an ongoing operation. The operation is still really at full tilt in a way.”

Prime Minister Theresa May said developmen­ts in the investigat­ion into the bombing meant intelligen­ce experts had decided to lower the threat level from its highest rating “critical”, meaning an attack could be imminent, to “severe”.

Police have issued a photograph of Abedi, a 22-year-old Briton born to Libyan parents, taken on Monday night before he blew himself up, killing 22 people at a concert hall, and said they believed he had assembled his bomb in an apartment in the city centre. —

manchester — Members of Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi’s network are still potentiall­y at large, British Interior Minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday, after the terrorism threat level was lowered because of significan­t progress in the investigat­ion.

Police said they have arrested a large part of the network behind the bombing, which killed 22 people at a concert hall, and three more men were arrested over the weekend as police continued to close in on the group.

Asked during an interview on BBC television whether some of the group were still at large, Rudd said: “Potentiall­y. It is an ongoing operation. There are 11 people in custody, the operation is still really at full tilt in a way.”

Greater Manchester Police said on Sunday that they had arrested a 14th person in connection with the attack. The 25-year-old man

Potentiall­y. It is an ongoing operation. There are 11 people in custody, the operation is still really at full tilt in a way Amber Rudd , Britain Interior Minister

was detained in the southwest of the city on suspicion of terrorism offences. Police were also searching another address in the south of Manchester.

Prime Minister Theresa May said developmen­ts in the investigat­ion into the bombing meant that intelligen­ce experts had decided to lower the threat level from its highest rating “critical”, meaning an attack could be imminent, to “severe”.

Police have issued a photograph of Abedi, a 22-year-old Briton born to Libyan parents, taken on Monday night before he blew himself up and said they believed he had assembled his bomb in an apartment in the city centre.

British officials have confirmed he had recently returned from Libya and the officers said that police needed informatio­n about his movements since his return to Britain on May 18.

Abedi was known to British security services before the bombing, the government has said, but Rudd declined to comment on exactly what had been known about him.

Media have reported that people who knew Abedi had raised concerns about him and his views as long ago as five years before he carried about Monday’s attack.

“The intelligen­ce services are still collecting informatio­n about him, but I wouldn’t rush to conclusion­s, as you seem to be, that they have somehow missed something,” Rudd said.—

 ?? AFP ?? DEFYING THREATS: A man dressed as Batman waves the Union Jack at the Manchester marathon on Sunday. —
AFP DEFYING THREATS: A man dressed as Batman waves the Union Jack at the Manchester marathon on Sunday. —
 ?? AFP ?? Salman Abedi is seen in this image taken from CCTV on the night he committed the attack. —
AFP Salman Abedi is seen in this image taken from CCTV on the night he committed the attack. —

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