Last image of twisted fanatic on NEW CCTV
HIS face barely shows a flicker of emotion as he makes his final journey towards Manchester Arena to commit mass murder.
Wearing glasses, sporting designer stubble and trendy Western clothes, this image of Salman Abedi was taken moments before he slaughtered 22 innocent pop concert-goers.
Abedi, 23, has his left hand tucked in his pocket – hiding the detonator which would trigger his deadly attack.
You can see the straps of the backpack that contained the nuts and bolts which killed and maimed his victims.
The CCTV picture, released by police last night, is at odds with other images of Abedi since Monday’s atrocity.
Footage earlier this week showed him in a hooded Islamic gown as he put the bins outside a house where he previously raised the Libyan flag from the roof.
This new picture captures a young man who would not get a second glance from his innocent victims.
Arrested
In a black designer Hollister puffer jacket and trainers, Abedi looks like just another student in Manchester.
But his actions shocked the world and have sparked the biggest anti-terror investigation in Britain since the London bombings on July 7, 2005.
Yesterday Greater Manchester police said they had 1,000 investigators “working round the clock” searching 14 locations in the city.
Officers say they are responding to more than 1,500 “actions”.
The release of the picture came on another extraordinary day which saw:
Two brothers arrested in Manchester in a raid where cops blew off the door to their city centre flat.
It later emerged the pair were pals with a teenager whose death is feared to have radicalised Abedi.
Theresa May reduce the threat from “critical” to “severe”, indicating cops were beginning to close down the cell.
Eleven people remain in police custody overnight to questioned over their links to the atrocity. Also, 63 victims were still in hospital with 20 of them in a critical condition. In total, 116 were injured in the blast. At least five children are among the patients being treated for life-changing injuries
Police last night said one of the last places Abedi went was the city centre Granby Row flats, where they believe he put the final touches to his bomb.
To get from the flats, near Piccadilly train station, to the Arena, Abedi could have walked for around 20 minutes through the city centre, possibly passing Piccadilly Gardens, the Arndale Centre and the Printworks complex.
Or he could have jumped on a tram which would have dropped him at Victoria station, next to the Arena. Police say Abedi returned to Britain from Libya – via Turkey and Germany – on May 18. They are appealing for information about his movements between then and the attack on the 22nd. Abedi may have planned it over the course of a year, having received training from Islamic State warlords in Libya or Syria.
He is said to have opened a bank account 12 months ago to fund DIY trips while he built up his bomb-making kit, bought from B&Q and Screwfix.
Abedi first made the detonator, a small switchboard, in a workshop at his family home in Fallowfield, Manchester.
He then mixed and primed the device hours before the massacre in the kitchen and bathroom of the rented Granby Row apartment.
It is believed he combined hydrogen peroxide with another chemical to produce a white powder known as Mother of Satan which acted as the explosive charge.
A 12-volt battery was then attached to power the detonator.
Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, Senior National Co-ordinator UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said yesterday that police knew Abedi’s identity within two hours of the explosion.
Two brothers arrested yesterday in a dramatic bomb squad raid were friends of a teenager whose death is feared to have turned Abedi to terror. Yahya Werfalli, 22, and his 20-year-old brother