THE INNOCENTS
Children murdered by home-grown radical Islamic terrorist
Police identif ied Salman Abedi, 22, as the suicide bomber who killed 22 people — many teenagers and young children — after an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.
The suicide bomber who killed at least 22 people, including children, at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester was a Britishborn jihadist who was on authorities’ radar before he carried out the attack.
Investigators were scrambling Tuesday to determine whether Salman Abedi, the 22-year-old son of Libyan refugees, was a lone-wolf attacker or had been working with accomplices.
Britain remained on edge, with Prime Minister Theresa May announcing that the UK terror-threat assessment had been raised to critical, its highest level, meaning another attack could be imminent.
“The work undertaken throughout the day has revealed it is a possibility we cannot ignore that there is a wider group of individuals linked to this attack,” she said.
“This means that armed police officers responsible for duties such as guarding key sites will be replaced by members of the armed forces, which will allow the police to significantly increase the number of armed officers on patrol in key locations.”
Abedi recently returned from Libya, and intelligence agencies are investigating whether he may have received terrorist training in his parents’ homeland, The Times of London reported.
“He went to Libya three weeks ago and came back recently, like days ago,” a school friend said.
On Tuesday, police arrested Abedi’s 23-year-old brother, Ismail, outside a supermarket in south Manchester, according to reports.
A source told Politico that both brothers were on UK security services’ radar, but had never been arrested for a crime.
While Salman Abedi was known to authorities, he was not part of any active investigations, and was thought of as a peripheral figure, not an immediate threat, The Guardian reported.
But on Monday evening, he carried out the deadliest terrorist attack in Britain since 2005, blowing himself up with a homemade, shrapnel-filled bomb near an entrance to the Manchester Arena, as hordes of young people and their parents were pouring out of the concert.
The explosion created a scene of carnage, with bloodied victims lying limp and shellshocked on the blood-streaked floor of the arena’s foyer.
Police viewed surveillance video of Abedi entering the concert hall, and it showed that the blast was caused by a crude bomb contained in a bag, a source told The Guardian.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacre in a statement sent out via social media.
“One of the soldiers of the Caliphate was able to place an explosive device within a gathering of the Crusaders in the city of Manchester,” the terror group wrote.
“What comes next will be more severe on the worshippers of the Cross and their allies, by Allah’s permission.”
Fifty-nine victims, some still in critical condition, were taken to local hospitals — and 14 people, many of whom are teens, were reported missing Tuesday as family members tried to locate their loved ones, The Telegraph reported.
As of Tuesday evening, five of the 22 victims who died had been publicly identified, including 8year-old Saffie Rose Roussos.
Earlier in the day, heavily armed police swarmed Abedi’s semi-detached home on Elsmore Road in Fallowfield, a suburb of Manchester, setting off a controlled explosion.
Hazmat-clad forensic officers were seen entering and leaving the home, one clutching a booklet titled “Know Your Chemicals.”
“It was so quick. These cars just pulled up and all these police with guns, dogs, jumped out of the car and said to us: ‘Get in the house now,’ ” said neighbor Simon Turner, 46.
Police also raided a home in Chorlton where Ismail Abedi lived.
Salman Abedi, who had dropped out of Salford University, was described by acquaintances as a devout Muslim who wore Islamic dress and had started acting strangely in recent months.
Neighbor Lina Ahmed, 21, said she saw Abedi, a diehard Manchester United soccer fan, chanting loudly in Arabic weeks before the attack.
“He was acting strangely,” the neighbor told The Sun. “A couple of months ago he was chanting the first kalima [Islamic principle] really loudly in the street. He was chanting in Arabic.
“He was saying, ‘There is only one God and the prophet Mohammed is his messenger,’ ” she said.
In the past year, he also grew a beard, pals at his school said.
Abedi was born in Manchester to Libyan-born Samia Tabbal and Ramadan Abedi, who had fled the Khadafy regime in Libya.
Salman’s dad, Ramadan, is believed to be living in Tripoli, according to The Guardian. It’s unclear where Salman’s mom, who taught the Koran, currently resides.
Salman also has another brother, Hashem, 20, and a sister, Jomana, 18.
Mohammed Saeed El-Saeiti, the imam at the Didsbury mosque, where Salman worshiped, told The Telegraph he wasn’t surprised that Salman was behind the attack.
The imam said Salman once showed him the “face of hate” after El-Saeiti delivered a speech warning of the dangers of ISIS.
“He used to show me the face of hate and I could tell this person does not like me,” Saeiti said. “It’s not a surprise to me.”
A family friend told The Guardian that Salman was friends with Abdalraouf Abdallah, 24, who spent 9 ¹/2 years in prison for helping would-be jihadists travel to Syria.
“All the Libyan lads in Manchester know each other,” the pal said.
How long will the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany let this terrorism go on (“Killing Our Kids,” May 22)?
Why can’t they unite and wipe out the jihadist groups that bring terror to their countries?
It’s about time these politicians stopped worrying about their popularity, their paychecks and political correctness and start caring about the voters who elected them. Their primary duty is the security of the people who live in their countries. Skip McGrory Stewart Manor
The next time voters are in the ballot box, they should remember Manchester.
Liberals want us to live in a fantasyland where climate change is a bigger threat to our families than Islamic terrorism.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the Manchester terrorist attack. Matthew Nugent Staten Island
While President Trump is attempting to secure peace in the Middle East, ISIS has claimed responsibility for slaughtering another 22 people and injuring scores of others.
Meanwhile the Democrats continue to fiddle away while Rome burns. Michael Velsmid Nantucket
We do not have the manpower or funds available to effectively surveil all radicalized Muslims.
In the United Kingdom, over 3,000 extremists are being monitored by MI5, according to reports. In the United States, I suspect there are even more.
As long as known terrorist threats are allowed to reside in a country, we have no chance to foil every potential threat. We are fighting a war that we must win or civilized society will cease to exist. Fred Spellman Port Washington
It’s tragic that so many young lives were taken in the suicide bombing in Manchester.
What is worse is that it appears to have been carried out in the name of religion. True religion does not incite violence or kill innocent people to bolster its cause.
To distort a peaceful belief into something deadly to hurt children is sickening. Joseph V. Comperchio Brooklyn