Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Manchester bomber brother ‘plotted to kill’ UK ambassador
Police want to quiz him over Arena atrocity
THE brother of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi has been linked to a plot to kill a British ambassador.
Hashem Abedi, 20, is said to have been part of a terror cell that allegedly planned a suicide bomb attack on Peter Millett, the UK’S envoy to Libya.
He is also suspected of plotting to kill Libyan prime minister Fayez Al-sarraj and the former United Nations envoy to the country, Martin Kobler.
Hashem was arrested in Libya in the days after brother Salman’s suicide attack at the Manchester Arena in May.
He is said to have had a suicide vest when found hiding in a farmhouse.
Police here and in Libya want to know if he had any part in the atrocity in which 22 died and more than 100 were injured at an Ariana Grande concert
British police have been in contact with their counterparts in Libya, though it is not known if they have yet been able to question Hashem. The Foreign Office would neither confirm nor deny that an extradition request had been made.
Charlotte Hardy, whose 15-year-old daughter Olivia died in the attack, said: “If he’s got questions to answer, he should be brought over to answer them.”
Last month Det Chief Supt Russ Jackson, head of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit, said officers were “engaged” with Libyan authorities but would not say if they had been to Tripoli.
He said: “We want to speak to Hashem Abedi and I can now say we are currently engaging with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Libyan authorities.”
A total of 23 people were arrested by UK police in the days after the Manchester attack, including Salman’s brother Ismail, 23. All were later released without charge.
The brothers’ father Ramadan Abedi, 51, was also arrested in Libya and is still being held.
Police do not believe Salman Abedi acted alone and have not ruled out further arrests.
Mr Jackson said last month: “We are examining all sorts of lines of inquiry and it is possible more arrests and searches will take place.
“We do want to interview Hashem Abedi. This investigation is likely to run on for many more months to come.”
Hashem and his alleged terror cell, who are all being held by the Libyan counter-terrorism force known as Rada, were understood to have admitted under questioning a plot to kill Mr Millett. The ambassador is based in Tunis, the capital of neighbouring Tunisia, for safety reasons.
It is understood the plan was to kill him during a visit to Tripoli.
The Foreign Office would not comment on the alleged plot last night.
Reports from Libya have previously suggested Hashem had admitted knowing brother Salman, 22, was going to commit a terrorist attack in the UK.
He is understood to have admitted helping his brother obtain components for the Manchester suicide bomb.
Both Salman and Hashem Abedi travelled from the UK to Libya in April this year, after parts of the bomb had already been purchased.
Their father Ramadan was a senior member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which is linked to al-qaeda and banned by Britain.
He fled the Gaddafi regime in the 1990s, sought asylum in the UK and settled in Manchester.
He returned to Libya in 2011 when the Gaddafi regime was toppled.