Yuma Sun

Raids, arrests as on-edge UK seeks ‘network’ of attackers

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MANCHESTER, England — Security forces rounded up more suspects Wednesday in the deadly Manchester concert blast and soldiers fanned out across the country to national landmarks as an on-edge Britain tried to thwart the possibilit­y of additional attacks.

Officials scoured the background of the Britishbor­n ethnic Libyan identified as the bomber, saying he was likely part of a wider terrorist network. Additional arrests were made both in Britain and in Libya in the bombing that killed 22 people and wounded scores more.

Among those taken into custody in Libya were the suspected bomber’s father and his younger brother, the latter of whom confessed to knowing “all the details” of the attack plot, Libyan anti-terror authoritie­s said.

“I think it’s very clear this is a network we are investigat­ing,” Chief Constable Ian Hopkins of the Manchester Police said as authoritie­s raided British properties thought to be connected to Salman Abedi, the 22-yearold suspected bomber who grew up in Manchester and died in the attack.

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Abedi “likely” did not act alone in the strike at the close of an Ariana Grande concert Monday night and that he had been known to security forces “up to a point.” Meanwhile, officials probed possible travel by the alleged bomber, looking for clues to new threats.

Government officials said nearly 1,000 soldiers were deployed to Buckingham Palace, Parliament and other high-profile sites across the country. Britain’s terror threat level was raised to “critical” — the highest level — on Tuesday over concern another attack could be imminent.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Abedi was believed to have traveled to Syria and had “proven” links to the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibi­lity for the attack. British officials, however, have not commented on whether Abedi had links to IS or other extremist groups.

British authoritie­s were probing whether Abedi had ties to other cells across Europe and North Africa, according to two officials familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the ongoing investigat­ion.

They said one thread of the inquiry involved pursuing whether Abedi was part of a larger terror cell that included Mohamed Abrini, otherwise known as “the man in the hat,” with connection­s to the Brussels and Paris attacks. Abrini visited Manchester in 2015.

“It looks like we’re not dealing with a lone wolf situation. There’s a network — a cell of ISIS-inspired terrorists,” said U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. He said the bomb’s constructi­on suggested a “level of sophistica­tion” that might indicate foreign training.

Six additional arrests were made in Britain on Wednesday as the sprawling investigat­ion extended to Libya, where Abedi’s father and 18-year-old brother were detained in Tripoli. The father, Ramadan Abedi, denied his son had links to militants in an interview with The Associated Press before he was taken into custody, saying, “We don’t believe in killing innocents.”

The elder Abedi was allegedly a member of the al-Qaida-backed Libyan Islamic Fighting group in the 1990s, according to a former Libyan security official, Abdel-Basit Haroun.

The Libyan anti-terror force that arrested the men said in a statement that the brother, Hashim Abedi, 18, confessed that he and his brother were linked to the Islamic State group and that he was aware of the arena bombing plan. The anti-terror force said the father had not been charged, but was taken in for questionin­g.

A second brother, Ismail Abedi, 23, was taken into custody in Manchester a day earlier.

The suspected bomber grew up in Manchester’s southern suburbs and once attended Salford University there. Neighbors recalled him as tall, thin and quiet, and said he often wore traditiona­l Islamic dress. Among investigat­ors’ areas of interest is how often Abedi traveled to Libya, which has seen an eruption of armed Islamist groups since dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011.

 ?? ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? A MAN PLACES FLOWERS IN ALBERT SQUARE IN MANCHESTER, Britain, on Wednesday after the suicide attack at an Ariana Grande concert that left more than 20 people dead and many more injured as the event ended Monday night at the Manchester Arena.
ASSOCIATED PRESS A MAN PLACES FLOWERS IN ALBERT SQUARE IN MANCHESTER, Britain, on Wednesday after the suicide attack at an Ariana Grande concert that left more than 20 people dead and many more injured as the event ended Monday night at the Manchester Arena.
 ?? ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? UNDATED HANDOUT PHOTO from an unnamed source made available on Wednesday of Salman Abedi. British authoritie­s identified Abedi as the bomber who was responsibl­e for Monday’s explosion in Manchester which killed more than 20 people.
ASSOCIATED PRESS UNDATED HANDOUT PHOTO from an unnamed source made available on Wednesday of Salman Abedi. British authoritie­s identified Abedi as the bomber who was responsibl­e for Monday’s explosion in Manchester which killed more than 20 people.
 ??  ?? BY THE NUMBERS Dow Jones Industrial­s: +74.51 to 21,012.42 Standard & Poor’s: +5.97 to 2,404.39 Nasdaq Composite Index: +24.31 to 6,163.02
BY THE NUMBERS Dow Jones Industrial­s: +74.51 to 21,012.42 Standard & Poor’s: +5.97 to 2,404.39 Nasdaq Composite Index: +24.31 to 6,163.02

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