MI5 probe into lapses before bomber struck

BRITAIN’S MI5 intelligence service has launched an internal probe into whether vital clues were missed ahead of the Manchester attack, as the city yesterday marked a week since the carnage that claimed 22 lives.

Manchester City Council called a vigil in the centre of the city last night at the exact moment that 22-year-old Salman Abedi detonated his bomb outside a pop concert by teen idol Ariana Grande in one of Europe’s biggest indoor arenas.

The names of the victims, including six children, were read out in front of the city’s town hall earlier yesterday at an annual religious ceremony.

A nearby square that has been the focus of remembrance was packed with floral tributes and heartshaped balloons.

“You tried to destroy us but you’ve brought us closer together,” read one message.

Investigators, meanwhile, pushed ahead with their probe of the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group. Authorities arrested a 23-year-old man in the southern coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea, more than 400km from Manchester.

That brings the total number of people now detained on UK soil to 14, all of them men, while Abedi’s father and brother have been held in Libya.

MI5 are also looking at decisions taken in the case of Abedi, who used to be on a terror watch list but was no longer on it at the time of the attack, and whether warnings about his behaviour were ignored.

“There is a lot of information coming out at the moment about what happened, how this occurred, what people might or might not have known,” Interior Minister Amber Rudd said. “It is right that MI5 take a look to find out what the facts are.”

Two people who knew Abedi made separate calls to an anti-terrorism hotline to warn the police about his extremist views, British media have reported.

Investigators said they had a 1 000-strong team working on the probe and had significant details about Abedi. – AFP