BROTHERS IN TERRORISM
Manchester murderer sought ‘revenge’ Kin arrested as atrocity plotter in Libya
THE MONSTER behind the Manchester bombing was out for revenge.
Salman Abedi’s younger sister, Jomana, said Wednesday that the 22-year-old who unleashed carnage at a pop concert was motivated by what he saw as injustices against Muslims around the world.
“I think he saw children — Muslim children — dying everywhere, and wanted revenge,” the 18-year-old told The Wall Street Journal. “He saw the explosives America drops on children in Syria, and he wanted revenge.
“Whether he got it, that is between him and God,” she added.
While Abedi’s sister tried to justify his actions, his brother was preparing to mimic them.
The suspected killer’s 20-yearold sibling, Hashem, was picked up in Libya on Wednesday and confessed to knowing “all the details” of the attack plot that left 22 people, mostly teens and children, dead outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, Libyan anti-terror authorities said.
Libyan security forces who detained Hashem said he was planning a similar attack in Tripoli — the North African country’s capital — and claimed he and Salman were members of ISIS.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Abedi was believed to have traveled to Syria and had “proven” links to the terror group, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ramadan Abedi, the father of suspected attacker, was also arrested in Libya on Wednesday after speaking with multiple news organizations. He denied that his son could have been involved in the slaughter at the Manchester Arena, saying, “We don’t believe in killing innocents.”
The elder Abedi, who fled his home country when it was under the rule of Moammar Khadafy but returned after the dictator’s fall, also denied allegations he was a member of the Al Qaeda-backed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in the 1990s.
He added that he had spoken to his son less than a week before the bombing.
“He sounded normal. There was nothing worrying at all until two days ago (when) I heard the news that they suspect he was the bomber,” he said, adding that Salman visited Libya six weeks earlier and was planning a trip to Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
British authorities, meanwhile, were probing whether the family had ties to other terror cells across Europe and North Africa, two officials familiar with the case told The Associated Press.
Investigators are specifically exploring the possibility that the same cell linked to recent attacks in Paris and Brussels was also to blame for the Manchester attack.
“I think it’s very clear this is a network we are investigating,” said Manchester police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins, as authorities raided British properties thought to be connected to Salman Abedi.
The suspected killer’s other brother, Ismail, 23, was taken into custody by British police Tuesday.
Manchester police originally believed that Salman, who was born in Britain, acted alone.
“This is a fast-moving investigation and we are keeping an open mind at this stage,” Manchester police said in a statement after detaining a woman in connection with the attack.
The woman was later released without being charged, police said.
Cops carried out a “controlled explosion” as they searched a property in the Moss Side neighborhood of Manchester early Thursday.
A man was also arrested in the town of Nuneaton, which is about 100 miles south of Manchester.
Including Salman’s relatives, authorities nabbed a total of seven people as of Wednesday evening.
U.S. officials told NBC News that Salman probably “had help” in constructing the “big and sophisticated bomb,” fueling suspicions that he was part of a larger cell. He was also known to U.S. authorities before he blew himself up Monday night, several law enforcement and intelligence sources told the network.
British Home Secretary Amber Rudd confirmed Wednesday that Salman was on British intelligence services’ radar, but only “up to a point.”
The Daily Telegraph, however, cited sources saying that authorities had been warned five times
that the young man might be trouble. A community leader also told the paper that he reported Salman two years ago “because he thought he was involved in extremism and terrorism.”
According to reports, the bomber was a loner who loved soccer, smoked pot and expressed sympathy with suicide attackers.
In recent years, after his parents moved back to Libya, Salman began failing out of college and expressing more radicalized ideas.
A Muslim community worker told the BBC that worried friends called an anti-terrorism hotline about Salman after he publicly said that “being a suicide bomber is OK.”
Monday’s terrorist attack was Britain’s second in two months and the country’s deadliest since the July 2005 London subway and bus bombings that killed 52 people.
The gruesome assault prompted British Prime Minister Theresa May to raise the nation’s terror threat level to “critical” on Tuesday. Thousands of armed soldiers will patrol key locations throughout the country as a result, officials said.
Many of those killed when Salman Abedi’s bomb, filled with nails, nuts and bolts, went off were young music lovers, including 8-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos and 15-year-old Olivia Campbell.
One of the fatalities was an offduty Manchester police officer. Her husband was critically injured and their two children were also hurt.
Grande’s management team said she has suspended her world tour through June 5 in the wake of the deadly bombing. The 23-yearold pop star is on a European leg of her “Dangerous Woman Tour” and canceled shows scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the O2 Arena in London.
Abedi detonated his device just as Grande’s fans were exiting the show on Monday.
Photos of what appeared to be a detonator and scraps of a backpack were leaked to media on Wednesday, giving the public a look at what was used to cause the destruction but also irking British investigators upset at U.S. officials for releasing sensitive information about their probe.
Hours later, British broadcaster Sky News aired two images of a man walking in Manchester’s Arndale shopping center Friday night carrying a blue backpack with a sales tag still hanging off it. The network did not say how it obtained the footage, but reported that police think the man was Abedi.