Quiet boy from religious family was mule for hunted bomb cell

● Two brothers of Manchester Arena bomber arrested ● ‘I still don’t believe my son was a terrorist’ says father

Investigators believe the Manchester bomber was the “mule” for a Uk-based bombmaking cell after police confirmed Salman Abedi was helped to carry out the deadly attack.

A picture has emerged of the Manchester-born bomber of Libyan origin as an impressionable and short-tempered young man who drank, smoked cannabis, enjoyed sport and was studying for a business degree before cutting ties with school friends and drifting towards radicalism.

The French interior minister yesterday said UK investigators believe “without doubt” that he travelled to Syria and received training from Islamic State fighters.

Abedi has also been linked to a prolific British jihadi recruiter who enticed dozens of peo- ple to travel to the Middle East and fight for IS.

His brother Ismail, 23, was arrested in the Chorlton area of Manchester on Tuesday and remains in custody. Another brother, Hashim, 20, was arrested in the Libyan capital Tripoli yesterday on suspicion of having links with IS.

In his first comments since the attack that killed 22 people, Abedi’s father gave an interview in which he denied his son could have been a terrorist.

“I was really shocked when I saw the news, I still don’t believe it,” Ramadan Abedi said from his home in Tripoli.

“My son was as religious as any child who opens his eyes in a religious family.

“As we were discussing news of similar attacks earlier, he was always against those attacks, saying there’s no religious justification for them. I don’t understand how he’d have become involved in an attack that led to the killing of children.”

Mr Abedi – who said he had not been contacted by British investigators in connection with the attack – added: “Every father knows his son and his thoughts, my son does not have extremist thoughts.”

Abedi’s parents are thought to have come to the UK as refugees from Colonel Muammar al-gaddafi’s regime, settling in London in 1993 before joining the large Libyan community in Manchester. They have since returned to live in Libya.

His parents have been described as “very religious”, and neighbours claimed that a black flag with Arabic script was sometimes seen hanging from the former family home in the Fallowfield area of Manchester.

The property, where Abedi still lived, was raided on Tuesday by armed police who used explosive charges to gain entry.

Abedi had reportedly returned from several weeks in war-torn Libya days before he launched his deadly attack.

Reports suggest he was captured on CCTV in the foyer of the Manchester Arena carrying a backpack containing an improvised explosive moments before it detonated, killing him and 22 victims.

A friend said: “He went to Libya three weeks ago and came back recently, like days ago.”

Abedi was described as a quiet boy who followed cricket and Manchester United. He was a pupil at several schools in the area, including Burnage Academy For Boys between 2009 and 2011. He began a course in business and management at Salford University in 2014, but dropped out after two years.

The university’s Dr Sam Grogan said: “All at the University of Salford are shocked and saddened by the events of last night. Our thoughts are with all those involved, their families and their friends.”

More recently, neighbours said Abedi had started to wear long, white religious dress and was heard loudly chanting prayers in the street. One described Abedi as a “regular kid” who drank alcohol and went out, until he “dropped off the radar” a year ago.

Another claimed he had been “radicalised by mosques in South Manchester” and that neighbours were “suspicious about him”.

Abedi, his brother Ismail and his father all worshipped at the local Didsbury Mosque.

An imam at the mosque, which is known as a liberal establishment, said it was “no surprise” to learn that Abedi was the Manchester bomber.

Sheikh Mohammed Saeed said Abedi had prayed at Didsbury less often after showing “hate” towards him following an anti-is sermon in 2015.

Fawaz Haffar, a businessman and trustee of the mosque, told reporters he did not know the bomber or recall seeing him at the mosque, but said he did recall Mr Abedi attending.

France’s interior minister Gerard Collomb told French television that Salman Abedi has “proven” links with IS.

He said both British and French intelligence services had information that Abedi had been in Syria. Mr Collomb said: “All of a sudden he travelled to Libya and then most likely to Syria, became radicalised and decided to commit this attack.”