SOLDIERS ON THE STREETS

As suicide bomber who killed 22 in Manchester is revealed to be British–born jihadi, PM orders . . .

TROOPS are being deployed to Britain’s streets amid fears of a follow-up terror attack. Theresa May announced the move last night, 24 hours after a suicide bomber killed 22 concertgoers, including a girl of eight.

The Prime Minister confirmed the identity of the Manchester attacker as British-born Salman Abedi, 22.

Intelligence agencies fear he may not have acted alone – meaning an Islamist terror cell may be on the loose.

The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre last night raised the attack threat to its highest level, critical – where an atrocity is ‘highly likely and may be imminent’. Speaking inside Downing Street following a meeting of the emergency committee Cobra, Mrs May said: ‘We cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack.’

She insisted the terrorists would be

defeated, adding: ‘The spirit of Manchester and Britain is far mightier than the sick plots of the terrorists. That is why they will never win and we will prevail.’

It is the first time troops have been deployed in mainland Britain since February 003, when Tony Blair sent tanks to guard Heathrow in a terror scare. Soldiers will patrol key sites including sporting and concert venues.

Undercover SAS troopers will join regular soldiers under Operation Temperer. As Manchester mourned:

Frantic parents were still searching for missing youngsters who attended the Ariana Grande show;

Islamic State claimed Abedi as one of its own, a ‘caliphate soldier’;

Donald Trump led the international condemnation, branding the jihadi a loser;

All general election campaigning was suspended until tomorrow at the earliest;

Locals were praised as ‘angels’ for helping hysterical youngsters.

Police were last night quizzing Abedi’s brother Ismail, 3, on suspicion of involvement in the nail bomb attack, the worst UK atrocity since 005.

Sources said although Abedi was known to the security services, he was not under surveillance and officers had no idea he was building a bomb. His father is a suspected jihadi who left the UK in 011 to fight against Colonel Gaddafi in his native Libya.

It was claimed Abedi travelled by train from London to Manchester on Monday, raising suspicions that he may have met co-conspirators or picked up the bomb.

Yesterday police carried out a controlled explosion at his home in southern Manchester. Experts checked the property for traces of chemicals or explosives. Police have recovered CCTV of Abedi striding into the Manchester Arena on Monday night with what officers believe was a homemade bomb.

Special forces were yesterday moved forward from their base in Hereford to Manchester to provide assistance to the police and security services.

Police Scotland yesterday stepped up its presence with armed officers at locations such as transport hubs and city centres as a ‘precautionary measure’. The force will review security for all events in Scotland in the next 14 days, including the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden on Saturday.

Yesterday, officers were at motorway service stations to identify any possible witnesses returning to Scotland from Manchester. Chief Constable Phil Gormley said: ‘There is no intelligence to suggest there is any threat to Scotland but I would ask the public to remain alert and report anything suspicious.

Officers were also on patrol outside Glasgow’s Central Mosque after the building’s outside wall was vandalised with a vile graffiti featuring the word ‘ISIS’ enclosed in a love heart.

The Queen summed up the disgust of the nation at the Manchester attack yesterday, describing it as an ‘act of barbarity’.

A garden party for 8,000 people at Buckingham Palace went ahead yesterday afternoon in line with a minute’s silence before the national anthem.

The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Eugenie, all stood with their heads bowed.

In a message released by Buckingham Palace, the Queen spoke of the country’s shock at the loss of life among families who had ‘just been enjoying a concert’.

THE timing and location were chosen on purpose to murder and maim as many as possible. The weapon – packed with nails, nuts and bolts – was selected to inflict the worst injuries on survivors.

Most cruelly of all, the killer deliberately targeted a concert by a singer popular with children and young teenage girls, apparently to cause maximum grief and outrage to decent human feelings.

If yet more proof had been needed that we in the liberal West shelter hate-filled enemies set on destroying our way of life, it was to be found on Monday night amid the blood and tears at Manchester Arena.

After the worst mass murder in Britain since 7/7, the first thoughts of this paper are with the victims and their families – the maimed and those viciously robbed of parents, beloved children and siblings. But we owe them more than defiant declarations that terrorism cannot win, or pieties about standing united in our grief.

Indeed, though the full details of the suicide bomber’s background have yet to emerge, we know enough to draw vital lessons from this latest in a long series of atrocities committed by fanatics in the name of Islam.

It was 15 years ago when a leading politician said of another mass killing: ‘These events are a terrible reminder that freedom demands eternal vigilance. And for too long we have not been vigilant.

‘We have harboured those who hated us, tolerated those who threatened us and indulged those who weakened us.’

The speaker was Margaret Thatcher and the events she referred to were the attacks of 9/11. Her words are even truer today, after Western politicians’ reckless interventions in Iraq, Libya and elsewhere have inflamed Islamist fanaticism. But how much longer must we agonise before acting on them?

In every society, a balance must be struck between citizens’ security and their civil liberties. As the Manchester atrocity brings home so painfully, the truth must surely be faced that the balance in Britain urgently needs readjustment to keep us safe.

The fact is that more than 3,000 jihadis are based in the UK, with hundreds more returning from Syria or sending their wives and families home. Yet thanks to the wretched Nick Clegg’s hand-wringing over civil liberties, a mere seven are subject to terrorism prevention orders.

Meanwhile, with lethal irresponsibility, tax-avoiding social media giants spread terrorist recruitment and bomb-making videos, untouched by the law.

As for suicide bomber Salman Abedi, he follows an all-too familiar pattern, having apparently been radicalised in Britain after his parents were given refuge here – in their case from Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya.

Worryingly, he is also believed to have attracted the security services’ attention, but there is no suggestion that he had been put under surveillance.

How many more atrocities must we suffer before we routinely tag suspects and stop putting their human rights above our safety? How many more returning jihadis and their brainwashed wives must we welcome home to walk our streets freely?

Every decent British Muslim will join the Mail in demanding tougher powers for the security services to root out and monitor those who drag their religion’s good name into the mire.

As for our would-be prime minister, Jeremy Corbyn – who has joined demonstrations to support IRA murderers and shared platforms with Middle Eastern fanatics – he likes to speak in abstractions about terrorism. He should ask the families of those maimed and killed in Manchester what it actually means. They know. And as long as we go on harbouring those who hate us, tolerating those who threaten us and indulging those who weaken us, they won’t be the last to suffer its hideous reality.