FACE OF KILLER JUST MOMENTS BEFORE BLAST
Police release CCTV images of bomber
SECURITY images of the Manchester bomber on the night he committed mass murder have been released by police. Wearing jeans, trainers and a dark jacket, Salman Abedi cuts an unobtrusive figure in his final moments before slaughtering 22 concert-goers on Monday.
On his back a rucksack is visible, which detectives believe could have held the explosive that tore through crowds exiting the Manchester Arena.
His features are partly obscured by a baseball cap and glasses.
The CCTV images are the first to show what the 22-year-old looked like when he carried out the deadliest terror attack Britain has seen for more than a decade.
Greater Manchester Police did not reveal where it was taken or at what stage of the evening.
Before arriving at the concert, which had attracted a young audience including many children, Abedi is believed to have put the final touches to his bomb in a city centre flat.
Police said they had built up a “detailed picture” of his movements since he returned to British shores on May 18, reportedly from his family’s native Libya.
They made a further appeal to the public for information about Abedi’s activity between the arrival in the UK and his suicide attack.
The force said in a statement: “We immediately established full command and control of the incident and within an hour of the attack taking place a specialist counter terrorism control room had been established with a first priority of identifying the attacker. “Specialist counter terrorist forensic teams were sent to try and identify the attacker and within two hours his identity was known.”
The following investigation in- volved around 1,000 officers, as a huge operation was launched to suppress any further terror threats posed by Abedi’s potential network. Anyone with information is asked to call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline anonymously on 0800 789321.
FOOTBALL fans, music lovers and race-goers across the UK were met with a heavy armed police presence this week- end.
Security was tightened across Wales and the rest of the UK, with officers present at sporting venues such as Twickenham, pop concerts and, for the first time, even beaches like Scarborough and Blackpool.
At Wembley, tens of thousands of supporters descended on the venue to watch Saturday’s match between Arsenal and Chelsea, in the first major city event since the terror attack on Manchester arena which left 22 dead and injured dozens more on Monday.
Supporters described seeing “more police with guns” outside the stadium, with officers dotted along the walkway to the pitch.
A beefed-up security operation saw a police helicopter circling the skies above the grounds in the hours leading up to kick-off.
On the ground, officers were seen patrolling the entrance on horseback, amid chanting and a sea of blue and red shirts.
Fans were happy to rub shoulders with police
Spectator Mike Purtill, 51, said: “I do feel safe. I don’t think you can allow something like that to stop you going on with your day to day.”
George Al, who travelled from Geneva in Switzerland for the match, said he felt safer in the presence of armed police.
“I have no issue seeing police with guns,” he said. “Actually, I feel safer.”
At Twickenham, officers maintained a highly visible presence for the Premiership final between Wasps and Exeter Chiefs.
At Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2017 in Hull, festival-goers happily rubbed shoulders with heavily armoured officers.
And at Birmingham Pride, where a minute’s silence was held to remember those affected by the Manchester bomb, revellers mixed with armed officers, posing for selfies along the way.
Talking about the level of the UK terror threat being stepped down, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said: “This weekend members of the public will be wondering what that means in terms of the events they will be going to on a Bank Holiday weekend.
“For practical reasons and precautionary reasons, we made the decision that the resources that we had planned for this weekend’s events will continue.
“They will still see that high level of policing presence – some armed, some unarmed.
“Once we get past the weekend we are going to look forward to stepping down the extra resources we have put in place over the last week.
“The military support we have had over the last few days under Operation Temperer, [we] will start to phase that out as well.”
Soldiers were also drafted in to stand guard at high-profile sites such as the Houses of Parliament, in order to free police for counter-terrorism patrols.
Here are pictures of the changing face of the nation’s streets since Tuesday – photographs which show both the severity of the situation and the spirit of resilience with which many have greeted the situation, as they vowed to continue with their lives as normally as possible.