Manchester bombing probe expands amid raids, arrests
Investigation now includes Germany
MANCHESTER, England —The investigation into a suicide blast that killed at least 22 people at a Manchester pop concert widened Thursday, with security services carrying out raids and rounding up suspects amid fears that the bombmaker who devised the bolt-spewing source of the carnage remains at large.
Police used controlled explosives to carry out a raid in the early hours of Thursday while also arresting two male suspects in Manchester. The arrests brought to eight the number of people in British custody who are suspected of involvement in the attack Monday.
While the nation observed a one-minute silence at the stroke of 11 a.m. to honor those who died in the attack, a bomb disposal unit was called to the southwest of Manchester to investigate a suspicious package. The police later said that the area had been “deemed safe.”
Alsoon Thursday, the grim task of confirming those who had died in the Manchester attack appeared to be coming to an end, and questions emerged about whether more could have been done to prevent the country’s deadliest terrorist attack since 2005.
As early as 2011, Salman Abedi, the 22-year-old Briton who has been identified as the bomber, had raised such serious concerns among acquaintances that they called an anti-terrorism hotline to report that he held extremist views. been Meanwhile,in officialPost Düsseldorfthat tolda GermanThe Abedijust Washington fourhad security days before bombing.the IslamicThe developmentState claimed signaled an expansion of an investigation that already has stretched to North Africa and continental Europe.
Authorities were investigating whether Abedi had possible contacts with extremists in Germany, including during a 2015 visit to Frankfurt, on the the conditionofficial said, of speaking gaining anonymity. was en route back to Britain from Istanbul when he stopped off in Düsseldorf.
The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel first reported the bomber's presence in Germany. The paper, which cited unidentified security me.” sources, said Abedi, flew from Düsseldorf to latest Manchester lastin outragedthe The British foreignamong disclosure British authoritiesmediaa series Thursday.was investigators.thatof just leakshave havethe been reports particularly originating incensedwith U.S.by officials. On Thursday, the BBC reported that British officials have decided to stop sharing information about the Manchester investigation with their American counterparts.
In a televised address on Thursday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the threat level would remain “critical,” the highest state of alert. She also said she would “make clear” to President Donald Trump when they meet later in Brussels that “intelligence that is shared between our law enforcement agencies must remain secure.” Later, Mr. Trump denounced U.S. leaks about Britain’s investigation of the Manchester terrorist bombing as “deeply troubling” and asked the U.S. Justice Department and other agencies to launch a full investigation. The controversy came amid an investigation into the broader network around Abedi that appeared to be rapidly A relative pace. of Abedi said Abedi Thursday that the suspect in the deadly Manchester concert bombing was driven by what he saw as unjust treatment of Arabs in Britain, confirming he made a final phone call in which he pleaded: “Forgive On Wednesday, the arrests stretched from the normally quiet lanes of a northern English town to the bustling streets of Tripoli, where Libyan officials said they had disrupted a planned attack by the bomber's brother. But even amid the crackdown, British authorities acknowledged that they remain vulnerable to a follow-up attack. The sight of soldiers deploying at London landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street underscored the gravity of the threat.