Salman Abedi is believed to have visited Libya, and possibly Syria, in recent months. But how much was known about him by the security services? It was suggested that he had been a “peripheral figure” in their monitoring of terrorist suspects. And if he was missed, what of others in the suspected network?
On Wednesday Channel 4 News broadcast this live debate at a vigil for the Manchester bombing victims. When it was brought to our attention that the woman being interviewed by Krishnan Guru-Murthy was wearing a gun-themed t-shirt, we removed the online versions to investigate. We are now satisfied that the intention of that image is to subvert weaponry and is an anti-violence protest t-shirt.
A minute’s silence will be observed at 11 o’clock tomorrow morning in memory of those who died in Monday’s attack. After that, there’ll be a “phased return” to election campaigning.
Salman Abedi’s older brother, Ismael, is still being questioned by police after being arrested in Chorlton, Manchester, yesterday. But his parents and other family members are now living back in Libya. Today his younger brother, Hashem, was arrested in Tripoli on suspicion of having links with the Islamic State group and his father has also…
South Manchester has become home to migrants from the east over many generations – more recently from countries like Syria, Somalia and Libya, which has a significant but fast-growing community. The streets were home too to the bomber, Salman Abedi, whose family came from Libya – and have gone back there. He’s known to have…
The Greater Manchester Chief Constable, Ian Hopkins, today confirmed that a serving officer was among the 22 people killed on Monday night. He said the immediate families of all those who had died had now been contacted and, although not all have yet been named, the stories of many of those victims are beginning to…
Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, and Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman and former police officer, Lord Paddick, discuss the response to the Manchester bombing, including the decision to deploy soldiers at public places in London.
More armed officers are being bussed in, as Greater Manchester Police say they are now investigating a terror network.Those officers are being freed up around the country by the deployment of troops to guard key sites following the upgrading of the terror threat level from “severe” to “critical”.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon says the decision to raise the terrorism threat level was made independently and deploying troops in public places, to “backfill” for the police, was a “direct response” to this. He adds that the Government has increased the number of armed police officers in recent years.
Gary Gibbon
This was the moment the election was meant to be moving into a higher gear. Many voters, the rubric tells us, don’t pay much attention until the last third of the campaign and the parties’ efforts are geared to that.
