Attacker’s lair prompts fears of second bomb
Eight men held in swoops in Wigan, Manchester and Nuneaton as fears network members remain at large
THE Manchester suicide bomber may have built a second device which is now in the hands of fellow jihadists, police fear.
Officers who raided the home of Salman Abedi discovered a bomb factory with a huge stash of explosive chemicals and other components.
Security sources believe that Abedi assembled the mechanism himself after learning his trade in Libya.
Last night it was reported that Abedi’s younger brother had told Libyan investigators that the Manchester bomber learnt how to make explosives online and wanted to “seek victory for IS [Isil]”. The extent of material at his home has led to fears that he could have built more than one device and distributed them to other British-based extremists.
A security source told The Daily Telegraph: “The worry is there was enough to build two or three bombs and we can’t rule that out.”
Abedi arrived back in Manchester from Libya last Thursday, travelling via Istanbul and Dusseldorf. The next day he visited the Arndale shopping centre, where he was seen on CCTV buying a Karrimor rucksack. It is believed he then spent the weekend assembling the main components of the device.
On Monday he travelled the three miles from his home in Elsmore Road, in Fallowfield, to a rented apartment in Granby Row on the edge of Manchester’s Gay Village.
The building was raided by special forces on Wednesday and forensics teams and bomb squad operatives were still at the building yesterday.
Sources believe Abedi may have used the £75-a-night apartment to put the bomb together, before heading off late on Monday to the Manchester Arena, where he killed 22 people.
The use of two addresses to assemble a device was a tactic used by the 7/7 bombers, who also spent months learning how to build a bomb at a training camp in Pakistan.
Former Metropolitan Police officer David Videcette, who helped investigate the Tube bombings, said it was likely Abedi had spent many months abroad practising how to assemble an explosive before returning to the UK.
He said: “This is not something you can just put together by reading a book or watching a Youtube video. He will have spent time at a camp somewhere, possibly in Libya, being shown how to do it. But once you have the skills and
the materials, assembling the device itself can be done fairly quickly.”
Last night, the search for Abedi’s Islamist network was continuing with a total of eight people being questioned on suspicion of involvement, in what officers described as “significant arrests”.
Police evacuated a street in Wigan amid fears that a second device had been found.
Officers first raided the property at 1am yesterday after arresting a man in a street following an intelligence-led operation in which he was bundled to the ground by armed officers.
It is understood that he had been staying in the flat in Springfield Street.
Tom Piper, a local resident, said: “The police raided at about 1.30 in the morning, but I never heard anything and then police were there all day.
“Then about 4pm or 5pm it looked like forensic people were there. And then all of a sudden about 6.30pm we got told to evacuate.” Bomb disposal teams were last night examining the property.
Greater Manchester Police said they found potentially suspicious items in the flat after a close examination yesterday afternoon.
However, fears that a bombmaker was on the loose were played down. US media outlets reported security sources in America as saying that officers no longer believed that to be the case.
The belief that Abedi is the bombmaker, and may have built more bombs that have yet to be discovered, is likely to have contributed to the increase in the terror threat level, which was lifted from severe to critical – meaning an attack is imminent – on Tuesday evening.
Ian Hopkins, the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said: “I want to reassure people that the arrests that we have made are significant, and initial searches of the premises have revealed items that we believe are very important to the investigation.”
He previously confirmed that his officers were hunting a “network” linked to Abedi.
Abedi is thought to have made a final phone call to his mother, Samia Tabbal, urging her to “forgive me”.
A Libyan security source said he made the urgent call shortly before the massacre in order to say goodbye.
His mother, who has a degree in nuclear science, has not commented.
Meanwhile, the intense police activity continued as armed officers made a series of raids amid fears that members of Abedi’s terror network remain at large.
Police confirmed that the eight men arrested followed raids in Manchester, Wigan and Nuneaton.
A man was arrested at gunpoint on Wednesday night after police using a Taser ordered him to “stay still or be shot”.