Stop hiding the truth about Islamist terror

IN the story of the Manchester suicide bomber’s grotesque betrayal of the country that saved his life, a crucial question remains unanswered.

Why were the public told nothing about the Royal Navy’s rescue of salman Abedi from war-torn Libya until the Mail revealed the truth on yesterday’s front page?

Last year’s inquiry into the Manchester bombing – in which Abedi murdered 22 concert-goers, including seven children – was meant to be a full account of the atrocity and its lessons, revealing what the authorities knew about the killer.

Yet not a word did David Anderson, QC, say about the episode in 2014, when hMs enterprise carried British-born Abedi to safety in Malta after he was caught up in the fighting in Libya.

Was Mr Anderson told? If so, why did he fail to mention it in his report? or if he didn’t know, why was he kept in the dark?

Preposterously, Whitehall officials claim Abedi’s rescue from a war zone was ‘irrelevant’ to his actions three years later. They should try telling that to the bereaved parents and maimed victims of the bombing, who yesterday condemned the loathsome killer and the shroud of secrecy thrown over his past.

In this apparent conspiracy of silence, how can we be sure everything is being done to root out Is terrorists from hundreds of people returning from war zones?

Don’t look to the BBC for answers. Indeed, apart from a passing reference on the Today programme’s review of the papers, it took Radio 4 more than 12 hours to mention the Mail’s eye-opening revelations in its news bulletins.

It’s as if the Corporation has been seized by a perverse form of political correctness, which makes it reluctant even to discuss the threat posed by returning jihadis. how can we have an informed debate about this potent danger to our security, when vital facts are suppressed?