Police release remainder of those held for questioning over Manchester attack

POLICE HAVE released the remaining people held for questioning over links with the Manchester Arena attacker as they said it remains unclear whether he acted alone to gather bomb parts.

Almost three weeks on from the suicide bombing which left 22 people dead and more than 200 injured, Greater Manchester Police have issued new images of Salman Abedi, the white Nissan Micra he used and a barrel stored inside the car.

The force also said officers were yet to speak to Abedi’s brother Hashim, who has been detained by authorities in Libya along with their father Ramadan.

Hashim reportedly told Libyan counter-terror forces he knew his brother was planning something and that the 22-year-old was radicalised while living in the UK two years before his deadly attack.

The British-born extremist of Libyan descent is believed to have built the explosive alone before he detonated the device as concert-goers began leaving a show by US singer Ariana Grande at 10.31pm on May 22.

Detective Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson, the head of North West Counter Terrorism Policing, said: “We have tracked him buying nuts from a DIY store that were used for shrapnel as well as the tin which we believe the explosive was placed in. He has also been tracked going to and from the Banff Road area of Rusholme.

“It is in Rusholme where the white Micra was found and in it considerable evidence. The Micra contained materials for bomb making and Abedi is forensically linked to the car.”

Abedi bought the car on April 13 two days before leaving the country, and officers believe bomb parts were stored in it before he returned from Libya on May 18, bought nuts and a tin container and assembled his deadly device.

“The assembly of the device is likely to have been by Abedi himself,” Mr Jackson said. “What is less clear is whether he acted alone in obtaining the materials.”