Arena bomber in touch with 8 MI5 ‘suspects’
The Manchester Arena bomber had contact with eight individuals who were ‘subjects of interest’ to MI5, the inquiry into the terror attack heard yesterday.
The revelation brought accusations from lawyers for the families of the victims that the intelligence agency had failed them.
‘You failed to protect these families and the public from a bomber,’ John Cooper, QC, told an MI5 witness. ‘On the most straightforward grounds, you failed.’ It came after the inquiry heard that the bomber, Salman Abedi, is ‘likely’ to have been indoctrinated into Islamist extremism by his own father.
The director-general of Counter Terrorism at MI5, known only as Witness J, told how those such as Abedi, 22, with a Libyan background, were exposed to individuals with extremist tendencies from their parents’ generation. These include former members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – which fought against Colonel Gaddafi’s regime and has been linked to Al Qaeda – who moved to Britain.
Abedi’s father Ramadan has been linked with the LIFG.
‘Salman Abedi was assessed as likely his extreme views were informed by his father, Ramadan Abedi,’ Witness J said. Asked by Paul Greaney, QC, for the inquiry, if it was assessed that Ramadan Abedi was involved with the LIFG, the witness said: ‘I’m afraid I am not able to go into that in open [hearings].’
The eight ‘subjects of interest’ included one who was in Libya and one in prison.
Three were direct contacts and the others were indirect.
The MI5 witness did not name Abdalraouf Abdallah, a convicted terrorist recruiter whose name was revealed by the Press, and was visited by Abedi twice in prison. The second visit occurred on the day Abedi ordered his first bomb-making chemicals and he exchanged calls on an illicit phone on the day they were delivered.
Sir John Saunders, the inquiry chairman, has ruled there is ‘centrally important material’ relevant to the question of whether MI5 could have prevented the attacks that cannot be revealed to the public.
Abedi murdered 22 men, women and children and injured hundreds more by detonating a backpack at the Manchester Arena in 2017. Among the dead was 14-year-old eilidh MacLeod, from the isle of Barra. The hearing continues.