First pictures of bomber on day of blast

THIS is the first chilling image of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi on the night he unleashed his murderous campaign of terror.

Hands casually in pockets and with a rucksack on his back, Abedi was caught on CCTV in the city on Monday night. Wearing jeans, trainers and a dark jacket, Abedi, 22, cuts an unobtrusive figure.

But shortly afterwards, he arrived at the Manchester Arena, where, at 10.33pm, he detonated his bomb just as crowds were leaving an Ariana Grande concert.

The blast killed 22 innocent people, including seven children and injured 116 others. The bomb – carried in his rucksack – was packed with nails and bolts to cause maximum injury.

Before arriving at the concert, which had attracted a young audience including many children, Abedi is believed to have put the final touches to his bomb in a city centre flat.

Police said they had built up a “detailed picture” of his movements since he returned to British shores on May 18, reportedly from his family’s native Libya.

They made a further appeal to the public for information about Abedi’s activity between the arrival in the UK and his suicide attack.

The force said in a statement: “We immediately established full command and control of the incident and within an hour of the attack taking place a specialist counter terrorism control room had been established with a first priority of identifying the attacker.

“Specialist counter terrorist forensic teams were sent to try to identify the attacker and within two hours his identity was known.”

The following investigation involved around 1000 officers, as a huge operation was launched to suppress any further terror threats posed by Abedi’s potential network.

Some 984 soldiers have been deployed on Britain’s streets – including guarding Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, with a further 800 available when required.

Eleven men remain in police custody following a series of raids across north-west England while Abedi’s father Ramadan and brother Hashim have been detained in Libya.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline anonymously on 0800 789321.