Rest of the World
Manchester Attack: UK Police Reveals Libyan-British Born, Salman Abedi As The Bomber
The 22-year-old behind the deadly bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester was known to security services, British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Wednesday, as the country elevated its terror threat to the highest level for the first time in a decade.
Police have named Salman Abedi, a British-born national of Libyan descent, as the bomber in the attack on Manchester Arena, which killed at least 22 people, including children. Abedi died in the blast, in what appears to have been a suicide bombing.
Rudd confirmed in an interview with the BBC that Abedi was on the radar of intelligence services and that he had recently returned to the UK from Libya.
Monday’s blast marked the deadliest terror attack on British soil since the 2005 London bombings.
“The intelligence services know a lot of people, and I’m sure we will find out more what level they knew about him in due course, but at the moment all they have confirmed is that they did know about him. And as I say, we will find out more when the operation is complete,” she said.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced Tuesday night that Britain’s threat level had been raised from “severe” to “critical,” and warned that a “further attack may be imminent.”
The change in status has led to speculation that that Abedi may not have been acting alone.
Rudd said that it was “likely, possible, that he wasn’t doing this on his own.”
Police arrested three men in south Manchester on Wednesday in connection with the attack. Another 23-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday.
Rudd told ITV that police would be looking “for any known associates” Abedi may have had.
Up to 3,800 military personnel are being deployed to British streets following the attack, the Home Secretary announced.
London’s Metropolitan Police service announced that military personnel would guard “key locations” as part of what’s been called “Operation Temperer,” and soldiers were seen at Buckingham Palace and extra police at train stations on Wednesday morning.
The protected sites also include Downing Street, embassies and the Palace of Westminster. The deployments would free up armed police officers to carry out patrols of the city, the Met said in a statement.
“I would expect this to be temporary but we will keep a close eye to see how long we need them for and when it’s appropriate we end Operation Temperer and go back to our different levels,” Rudd said.
Soldiers march through the grounds of Buckingham Palace in London, two days after an apparent terrorist attack on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
Attacker born in UK
The suspected attacker, Abedi, has not yet been formally identified by the coroner, Manchester police said.
Abedi was of Libyan descent but born and raised in the UK, sources in Manchester’s Libyan community told CNN.
He was a student at the University of Salford in Manchester.
The University told CNN that he was studying business and management but while he was enrolled for the current academic year he has not been attending classes.
Authorities have discovered no evidence of a link between the attacker and an established terror group, a British counterterrorism official told CNN.
