Bomber called his mother to say ‘forgive me’
SUICIDE bomber Salman Abedi telephoned his mother hours before his evil attack and asked “forgive me”, it emerged last night.
The mass killer, 22, phoned nuclear scientist Tabbal Abedi, 50, just before blowing himself up at Manchester Arena, Libyan officials revealed.
His mother is a close friend of the wife of a former Al Qaeda commander once on the FBI’s world’s most-wanted terrorists list, with a £20million bounty.
The news came as investigations continued into the killer’s links with a worldwide terror web stretching from the Middle East to North Africa and Europe.
Last night US officials said
the British-born Islamist was likely to have received terror training in Syria.
The suicide bomber and his younger brother Hashem, 20, were summoned back to Libya from the UK six weeks ago by dad Ramadan – an ex-Libyan freedom fighter – who feared Salman was mixing with “tough” Manchester gangs. It was feared he was about to stab a gang rival. He had also been kicked out of his local mosque.
His sister Jomana, 18, told an American newspaper last night that her brother was “loving” but driven to kill by civilian deaths in the Syrian civil war and the alleged gangland death of a Libyan friend in Manchester last year.
Abedi is believed to have set off on his murderous mission from the family home in Tripoli within days of returning after tricking his mother into handing back his passport.
He lied about going on an Islamic pilgrimage and flew instead back to the UK, via Istanbul in Turkey and Dusseldorf in Germany.
Dusseldorf is a renowned hotbed of radical Islam and back in 2015 Abedi is known to have visited Frankfurt – also home to a number of jihadists.
Anti-terror experts are now probing his potential contacts with local radical Islamists.
Last weekend he was caught on CCTV carrying out reconnaissance around Manchester and on Sunday it is believed he travelled to London, returning on Monday morning to prepare for his attack that night.
Police suspect he met up with fellow members in his “terror cell” in the capital. As the hunt for his cohorts continued in Britain, one source said the bomber was a brainwashed “mule”. It is possible Abedi intended to leave the bomb but the device was triggered by the “mastermind”. Islamic State’s claim of responsibility does not mention martyrdom.
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Abedi travelled to Manchester Arena with his rucksack laden with explosive TATP, similar to that used in attacks in Paris in 2015 and Brussels last year. Counter-terrorism agents now fear Abedi’s terror cell could have more devices for further attacks.
Video footage emerged yesterday of the bomber in a hooded brown north African robe – known as a Djellaba – putting out bins at his Fallowfield home, in Manchester. The colour is believed to indicate that he is single.
US sources have linked him to radical Libya-based preacher Abdul Baset Ghwela, whose son had joined IS in Libya and died fighting in Benghazi.
In Tripoli, the government’s Rada Special Deterrence Force said they are holding Abedi’s father and younger brother Hashem.
They said: “According to our investigations, Hashem is a member of IS and was planning a terrorist bombing in Tripoli.”
Salman’s older brother Ismail, 23, was arrested by police in Chorlton, Manchester, on Tuesday.
He was already on the radar of counter-terrorism officers after concerns expressed by the local Muslim community.