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Salman Abedi’s family arrested as police swoop on terrorist ‘network’

THE father and two brothers of the Manchester suicide bomber have been arrested over their alleged links to Islamic State.

Salman Abedi’s younger brother Hashem, who was detained in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Tuesday night, was allegedly planning to carry out a separate terrorist attack there.

“We have evidence that he is involved in Daesh (Islamic State) with his brother. We have been following him for more than one month and a half,” a spokesman for a local counter-terrorism force told Reuters.

This image of Hashem Abedi, the younger brother Salman Abedi, holding a firearm has surfaced.
This image of Hashem Abedi, the younger brother Salman Abedi, holding a firearm has surfaced.Source:Supplied
 
Hashem Abedi appears inside the Tripoli-based Special Deterrent anti-terrorism force unit after his arrest for alleged links to the Islamic State extremist group. Picture: Ahmed Bin Salman, Special Deterrent Force via AP
Hashem Abedi appears inside the Tripoli-based Special Deterrent anti-terrorism force unit after his arrest for alleged links to the Islamic State extremist group. Picture: Ahmed Bin Salman, Special Deterrent Force via APSource:AP

“He was in contact with his brother and he knew about the attack.”

The Tripoli-based anti-terrorism Special Deterrent Force said Hashem, 20, confessed that both he and Salman were a part of IS.

Salman’s father, Ramadan Abedi, was also detained by Libyan authorities on Wednesday.

He was taken away by a masked gunman while professing his son’s innocence in a TV interview, UK newspaper the Express reported.

The arrests in Tripoli follow the earlier arrest of Salman’s other brother Ismail, 23, in Manchester.

Salman Abedi, the bomber responsible for Monday's explosion in Manchester which killed 22 people. Picture: AP
Salman Abedi, the bomber responsible for Monday's explosion in Manchester which killed 22 people. Picture: APSource:AP

BOMBMAKER ‘IS STILL OUT THERE’

Meanwhile, a desperate search is on for the man who built the nail bomb that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester on Monday night, as fears grow that a second attack is imminent.

Salman Abedi was a “mule” used to carry out the attack and the bomb maker is still at large, a police source told the Manchester Evening News.

“They don’t waste bomb makers,” he said.

“The reason we have gone to critical is because he is still out there and the fear is that he will strike again before they get caught.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May has raised the country’s terror threat level from “severe” to “critical”, meaning authorities expect another attack is imminent.

Greater Manchester Police have declined to comment on the search for the bombmaker officially, but confirmed that Mr Abedi did not act alone in carrying out his deadly attack on concertgoers after the US pop stars performance in the city in England’s northeast.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said the level of police activity in the investigation was “intense and is continuing at a fast pace”.

“I think it’s very clear that this is a network that we are investigating and, as I said, it continued at a pace, there’s extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester as we speak,” he told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

Nearly 1000 military personnel are being deployed around the UK as terror status is elevated to ‘critical’ in the wake of the Manchester Arena terror attack. Picture: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
Nearly 1000 military personnel are being deployed around the UK as terror status is elevated to ‘critical’ in the wake of the Manchester Arena terror attack. Picture: Jack Taylor/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

SUICIDE BOMBER’S SUSPICIOUS TRIP

The Manchester bomber returned from a mysterious trip just days before he detonated the bomb inside Manchester Arena.

It has been revealed that Salman Abedi took a three-week trip to Libya, where his parents hail from, and then carried out the terrorist attack just days after he returned to Manchester.

Police and intelligence officers are now investigating why the suicide bomber took the trip and who he met there.

There are also reports in the British media that Mr Abedi recently visited Syria, a hot bed for Islamic State.

A police officer stands on duty outside the home in Fallowfield, Manchester, where Salman Abedi lived. Picture: AFP/Oli Scarff
A police officer stands on duty outside the home in Fallowfield, Manchester, where Salman Abedi lived. Picture: AFP/Oli ScarffSource:AFP

The new details come after police confirmed that Mr Abedi, 22, was not a lone-wolf terrorist but was, in fact, part of a “network”.

Mr Abedi died in Monday night’s attack, but police have since arrested six people in connection with the atrocity. Among them is Mr Abedi’s brother, Ismail, 23.

A woman was arrested late Wednesday after an armed raid on a block of flats in the Manchester suburb of Blackley.

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Source: News Corp Australia Network:

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