TERROR AFTERMATH
Police arrest 8 suspected Libyan jihadis
EIGHT members of a suspected Middle England Libyan terror cell were being held by police last night after a series of dramatic raids in connection with the Manchester atrocity.
They included relatives from the extended family of suicide bomber Salman Abedi and other individuals thought to be of Libyan descent.
But detectives fear further key figures of the gang are still at large – and could be preparing more atrocities.
Following a series of raids in Manchester, Wigan and Nuneaton in Warwickshire, police said they had made ‘ significant’ arrests and seized ‘very important’ items.
Last night a street was sealed off as police continued to search a property in Wigan amid reports that a bomb disposal unit was called to the scene.
The development prompted speculation that officers had located a bomb factory, but last night the cordon was lifted and residents allowed back to their homes.
Eyewitnesses posted photos on Twitter showing a bomb disposal van, and at least one street sealed off with a police cordon while a helicopter circled above. Greater Manchester Police said officers had been at an address in the area since Wednesday evening, following the arrest of a man carrying a suspicious package.
As counter-terrorism detectives stepped up their efforts to track down other suspects, witnesses described the dramatic moment armed officers detained a suspect at gunpoint in Nuneaton – ordering him to stay still or be shot.
The man, who was placed in a protective forensic suit before being taken away, was arrested near a block of flats after police began detailed searches of a nearby house. Residents described how the suspect, thought by witnesses to be in his 20s or 30s, was taken away after a police operation lasting half an hour.
As the suspect was detained and Tasered, police half a mile away also raided the home of a Libyan dissident who survived a mysterious murder attempt during a recent visit to the north African nation.
The operation targeting the residence of the 47- year- old man began on Wednesday evening.
Specialist officers yesterday continued to search the £250,000 semidetached home, which sits on a smart Nuneaton street.
The man’s 20-year-old son – one of three brothers – briefly appeared outside the family home last night.
He denied that any of his relatives had been arrested, and said he did not know why his house had been targeted. He said: ‘They barged in as soon as someone opened the door. It was terrifying.’
He said the family were being put up in a local hotel but declined to answer further questions.
Meanwhile, a van driver told how he came face-to-face with suicide bomber Salman Abedi in Nuneaton weeks before the Manchester Arena massacre.
Elijah Nyamhdzadza, 40, who recognised Abedi after reading of the bombing in newspapers, said: ‘I’d know those evil eyes anywhere. He made my blood run cold.’
He added: ‘I am 100 per cent sure it was Abedi. He was so weird that day, in his tracksuit shouting at me, he was so full of rage. It makes me feel sick to my stomach to think I came face-to-face with him.’
In the early hours of yesterday morning, counter-terror police carried out a controlled explosion at a property in the Moss Side area of Manchester, although no arrests were reported by officers.
Police also carried out searches at an address in the Withington area of Manchester yesterday morning and arrested a man. Meanwhile, detectives raided the Greater Manchester home of a family related to Abedi.
A neighbour said he saw the father of the family being taken away in handcuffs at 2.30am.
He said: ‘ There was a lot of shouting and the father was put in handcuffs. The rest of the family were walked out and they were all taken away.
‘The father is very nice and I remember him being upset over 9/11 so I can’t believe he could be involved.’
The Libyan terror connection deepened after it emerged earlier this week that the Abedis reportedly once shared a Manchester house with a man who had a £20million FBI bounty on his head as one of the world’s most wanted terrorists.