Were Manchester bomb parts in killer’s suitcase on wheels?
CCTV images released by police last night show Manchester bomber Salman Abedi hours before he committed his mass murder.
The 22-year-old terrorist is seen heading back and forth from a flat he rented on the edge of the city centre pulling a blue wheeled suitcase and carrying a black binliner.
It is believed he may have been fetching components to assemble the bomb that killed 22 and injured at least 119.
Police have also released images of a blue barrel with a red lid – hidden by Abedi in a white Nissan Micra car parked in the Rusholme area of the city – which is believed to have been used to store materials.
The pictures came as officers released the remaining suspects arrested in the wake of the May 22 bomb attack after an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena. A total of 22 people were held but no one has been charged. Detectives investigating the outrage said it remains unclear whether Abedi acted alone to gather bomb parts or had help.
Detective Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson, head of North West Counter Terrorism Policing, said: ‘We have tracked him buying nuts from a DIY store that were used for shrapnel as well as the tin we believe the explosive was placed in.
‘He has also been tracked going to and from… Rusholme, where the white Micra was found. The Micra contained materials for bomb making and Abedi is forensically linked to the car.’
Abedi had been renting a £75-a-night flat near Manchester’s Piccadilly Station, where it is believed the nail bomb was put together before he caught a tram to the arena.
Police said officers have yet to speak to Abedi’s brother Hashim, who has been detained by the authorities in Libya along with their father Ramadan. Hashim reportedly told Libyan counter-terror forces he knew his brother was planning something and that he was radicalised while living in the UK two years before his attack.
Abedi bought the car on April 13 two days before leaving the country for Libya, and officers believe bomb parts were stored in it before he returned on May 18.
He then bought nuts and a tin container and built his device. Mr Jackson said: ‘Our inquiries show the assembly of the device is likely to have been by Abedi himself.
‘What is less clear is whether he acted alone in obtaining the materials for the device before he left the country on April 15 and whether others knew or were complicit in the storage of materials knowing what was being planned.’
Police are still searching a rubbish tip in Heywood, Greater Manchester, for the blue suitcase, which could contain important forensic clues and even remnants of explosive materials.
Radicalised while living in the UK