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Agence France-Presse

Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber who killed 22 people in an attack on a pop concert in Manchester, was a business student who dropped out of university.
Born to a devoutly Islamic Libyan family in Britain’s third biggest city, newspapers said he was known to the security services and the Financial Times said he had turned to radical Islam in recent years.
Abedi, 22, worshipped at a suburban mosque, where his father was a well-known face who sometimes performed the call to prayer.
He was named by police and Prime Minister Theresa May the day after the deadly attack, which also left dozens wounded, on the concert by US pop star Ariana Grande, who has a large teenage girl following.
“The perpetrator was Salman Ramadan Abedi, who was born and brought up in Britain,” May said, condemning his actions as “callous and cowardly”.
Watch: UK police chief confirms suspect


Abedi’s family have lived in the Fallowfield area of south Manchester for at least 10 years, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Armed police raided an address in the modestly well-to-do area on Tuesday, carrying out a controlled explosion to gain entry.
A 23-year-old man was also arrested in the south of the city in connection with the attack.
Fallowfield resident Peter Jones, 53, described the area as “quiet and safe”.

Jones said that he was “shocked” and “surprised” when he heard that the suspect was from there.
Media reports said Abedi’s parents fled Libya to escape the regime of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Around 16,000 Libyans live in Britain and Manchester is home to the largest community, according to the BBC. It was a focus of celebrations when the Gaddafi regime fell in 2011.
Reports said the suicide bomber was the second youngest of four children, including another son and one daughter.
One member of Manchester’s Libyan community told The Guardian newspaper: “He was such a quiet boy, always very respectful towards me.
“His brother Ismael is outgoing, but Salman was very quiet. He is such an unlikely person to have done this.”

Abedi had recently returned from Libya, according to The Times newspaper’s front page Wednesday, which cited a school friend as saying he left three weeks ago and returned in the last few days.
Police said they were urgently seeking to establish whether Abedi worked alone, or acted as part of a larger network.
Abedi’s family were closely linked to the Didsbury Mosque, a Victorian former Methodist chapel in a leafy suburb that was bought in 1967 by donors from the Syrian Arab community.
His father Ramadan had sometimes performed the call to prayer and his brother Ismael had been a volunteer.
One senior figure from the mosque however, Mohammed Saeed, told The Guardian that when he once gave a sermon denouncing terror, Abedi stared him down.
“Salman showed me a face of hate after that sermon,” Mohammed Saeed said of the 2015 encounter.
“He was showing me hatred.”

Abedi began studying business and management at Salford University in Manchester in 2014, a source told the Press Association news agency, but he dropped out after two years and did not complete his degree.
He did not live in university accommodation, had not been in any trouble at the university, was not on any radar for pastoral or social care and was not known to have participated in any university societies.
It is understood Abedi never met with the university’s resident imam.
Abedi used an improvised explosive device, apparently packed with metal, to massacre concertgoers and end his own life.
Citing CCTV footage recovered by detectives, The Times reported Abedi had placed the device in a suitcase which he set on the ground before it detonated.
Additional reporting by The Guardian


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Manchester concert attack

Salman Abedi: the student dropout who brought terror to Manchester

One of the first pictures of Manchester suicide bomber, Salman Abedi. Photo: The Guardian

A man stands inside Didsbury mosque in Manchester, Britain May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

A police officer stands on duty outside a house (R) in Fallowfield, Manchester, in northwest England on May 23, 2017, as they search the resdiential property following the May 22 deadly terror attack at the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena. Twenty two people have been killed and dozens injured in Britain's deadliest terror attack in over a decade after a suspected suicide bomber targeted fans leaving a concert of US singer Ariana Grande in Manchester. / AFP PHOTO / Oli SCARFF

epa05985012 Armed police on patrol in central Manchester, Britain, 23 May 2017. Britain is on high alert following the Manchester terror attack on the Manchester Arena late 22 May, that saw 22 people lose their lives with scores of people injured. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Terror threat ‘critical’: troops on the streets as UK warns of imminent attack

Armed police on patrol in Manchester. Up to 5,000 armed troops can be deployed at transport hubs and other crowded public places in order to release the armed police for other duties. Photo: EPA

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh observe a minute's silence at the start of a Special Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in London on May 23, 2017. Twenty two people have been killed and dozens injured in Britain's deadliest terror attack in over a decade after a suspected suicide bomber targeted fans leaving a concert of US singer Ariana Grande in Manchester. / AFP PHOTO / POOL AND AFP PHOTO / Niklas HALLE'N

epaselect epa05984934 People lay tributes at a vigil for the people who lost their lives during the Manchester terror attack in central Manchester, Britain, 23 May 2017. Britain is on high alert following the Manchester terror attack on the Manchester Arena late 22 May, that saw 22 people lose their lives with scores of people injured. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Police investigators work at residential property in south Manchester, Britain May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

This undated photo obtained by the Press Association on Tuesday, May 23, 2017, of Saffie Roussos, one of the victims of an attack at Manchester Arena, in Manchester, England, which left more than a dozen dead on Monday. A suicide bomber blew himself up as concert-goers left a show by the American singer Ariana Grande. (PA via AP)

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Britain’s prime minister and police identify suspect behind the suicide attack which killed 22 people, including an eight-year-old girl


Salman Abedi: the student dropout who brought terror to Manchester

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Britain’s prime minister and police identify suspect behind the suicide attack which killed 22 people, including an eight-year-old girl

Britain’s prime minister and police identify suspect behind the suicide attack which killed 22 people, including an eight-year-old girl