Mosque disowns Manchester attacker for his ‘horrific atrocity’

THE mosque in which Salman Abedi worshipped has distanced itself from him and urged anyone with information about the attack to inform police.

Officials at the Didsbury base and Manchester Islamic Centre described the bombing as an act of cowardice that had no place in any religion.

Abedi’s father, Ramadan, worked at the mosque and often led the call to prayer and was a regular worshipper before leaving Britain for his native Libya.

But Fawaz Haffar, a businessman and trustee of the mosque, told reporters that he did not know whether the bomber had been a regular at the mosque.

In a statement he said: “The horrific atrocity that occurred in Manchester on Monday night has shocked us all. This act of cowardice has no place in our religion or any other religion.

“We encourage anyone who may have information about the individual involved to contact the police without any delay so they can assist with their investigation.” He concluded: “Manchester

‘We encourage anyone who may have information about the individual involved to contact police’

is a city with a great history and a prosperous and bright future.

The Manchester Islamic Centre is proud to be part of this great city of Manchester.”

Local residents insisted that Abedi was a regular at the mosque, which was also attended by Anil Khalil Raoufi, a jihadist, who was killed while fighting for Isil in 2014.

Raoufi, the same age as Abedi, had also grown up in the neighbourhood and, according to reports at the time, had been a “regular attender” at Didsbury mosque.

Raoufi travelled to Syria with Raphael Hostey, a notorious Isil recruiter, who was also the same age as Abedi and grew up locally.

Hostey, who called himself Abu Qaqa, is said to have recruited dozens of young jihadists, including a terror cell in Portsmouth.

It also appears Abedi knew Abdalraouf Abdallah, another Briton with Libyan parents who grew up in the same area of Manchester.

Emma Webb, the author of a study on student Islamic terrorists, said: “The scale of Abedi’s connections is very alarming for the security services.”