UK on ‘critical’ alert after blast
Troops flood Britain, Manchester stands in peaceful defiance
MANCHESTER // The suicide bomber who killed 22 people at the Manchester Arena concert hall was not acting alone, UK police said yesterday.
And thousands of soldiers were sent across Britain after the terror alert was raised to critical for the first time in seven years.
The bomber, Salman Abedi, 22, was known to security forces before Monday’s attack at a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande.
Ian Hopkins, the chief constable of the local police force, said extensive searches were continuing as police hunted for accomplices.
“It is very clear that this is a network we are investigating and, as I’ve said, it continues at a pace,” Mr Hopkins said.
He would not confirm the existence of a terror cell or factory where the bomb was made.
British police have so far arrested four people in connection with the attack, including the bomber’s brother Ismail, 23.
His father Ramadan and other brother Hisham, 20, were last night arrested in Libya on suspicion of links with ISIL.
The father and youngest brother of Salman Abedi, the Manchester Arena suicide bomber, were last night arrested in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Ramadan Abedi and his son Hisham, 20, were arrested separately by the local counter-terrorism force, after the third brother Ismail, 23, was arrested in England on Tuesday morning. The force’s spokesman, Ahmed bin Salem, said of Hisham: “We have evidence that he is involved in Daesh with his brother. We have been following him for more than a month and a half.
“He was in contact with his brother and he knew about the attack.”
Before his arrest, Ramadan Abedi – the administrative manager for the main militia in Tripoli – said he had spoken to his son Salman, 22, five days ago and that he sounded normal.
He declared Salman innocent and denied that he had any links with extremists.
“We don’t believe in killing innocents. This is not us,” Ramadan said. He said Salman visited Libya about six weeks ago.
Police said three other people had been arrested yesterday in relation to Monday night’s attack but gave no further details.
Meanwhile, a fifth person was yesterday arrested in Britain. “We made an arrest in Wigan this afternoon in connection with the investigation into the horrific incident at Manchester Arena,” a spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said.
“When arrested, the man was carrying a package that we are currently assessing.”
Salman was born in Manchester in 1994, after his father and mother, Samia, fled the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 1992.
Libyan sources say the name Abedi is a variation of Obeidi – the name of one of the country’s largest tribes, who are mostly in the east of the country.
Residents in Manchester said Mrs Abedi was also in Libya with her daughter Jomana, 18.
France’s interior minister, Gerard Collomb, yesterday said Salman recently travelled to Syria from Libya and had “proven” links with ISIL.
Police are also investigating whether ISIL recruiters are operating in Manchester.
Twin sisters Zahra and Salma Halane, who left to join ISIL in Syria in 2015, attended Manchester’s Whalley Range school, which Jomana also attended.
Last year, former British foreign secretary Philip Hammond said more than 1,500 Britons had tried to get to Syria and Iraq to join ISIL. Mr Hammond said 800 of them succeeded but that Britain stopped another 600 wouldbe recruits from reaching their destinations.
Some of the 800 have returned to the UK, disenchanted with life under ISIL control.
The number of ISIL recruits and potential recruits, many lured by campaigns on social media, has created a headache for British security forces trying to keep track of terror suspects.
Reports say Salman was known to authorities but considered a peripheral figure. foreign.desk@thenational.ae * With reporting by Associated Press