Senior police officer says it is ‘not unreasonable’ to suggest Salman Abedi fought or trained with militia in 2011
The Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi may have trained and fought with Islamist militia in Libya, an inquiry into the attack has been told.
Abedi’s cousin Abdurrahman Forjani told police that he had travelled to Libya during the 2011 revolution and got a job “locating Gaddafi supporters”.
Continue reading...British Transport Police assistant chief constable says officers should have been patrolling site of attack
A senior police chief has admitted that officers who failed to patrol the site of the Manchester Arena bomb “let the public down”.
An inquiry into the terrorist attack heard that two British Transport Police (BTP) officers left the area to take a meal break of more than two hours, involving a five-mile trip to buy kebabs.
Continue reading...John Atkinson arrived at hospital 90 minutes after terror attack and later died of blood loss
A victim of the Manchester Arena attack who had to wait more than 40 minutes after the bombing to be evacuated from the scene told a paramedic: “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”, a public inquiry has heard.
John Atkinson, 28, was not taken from the blast site for 46 minutes, before being carried on a cardboard advertising hoarding to a casualty clearing station.
Continue reading...Inquiry into Ariana Grande concert attack to hear force did not declare major incident for three hours
Experts will tell an inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing that “significant flaws” by police led to a series of devastating delays in tending to victims.
The public inquiry into the terrorist attack was told on Tuesday the force did not declare a major incident until three hours after Salman Abedi’s attack at the Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people and injured 260.
Continue reading...Chairman says he is ‘not looking for scapegoats’ as inquiry hears of possible ‘missed opportunities’
The Manchester Arena bomber was spotted “praying” at the venue 50 minutes before he carried out the attack and asked what he had in his rucksack, the inquiry into the bombing has heard.
It was one of two possible “missed opportunities” to stop Salman Abedi in the hour before the bombing on 22 May 2017, the public inquiry into the attacks heard.
Continue reading...Sara Hussain, 11, says she would explain to attacker ‘what Islam teaches us’ in moving speech
A Muslim primary school pupil from Lancashire has been praised after a speech she wrote imagining a conversation with the Manchester Arena bomber.
Eleven-year-old Sara Hussain from Blackburn won a public speaking competition with the speech, which was inspired after a friend survived the bombing two years ago.
Continue reading...Court had agreed to return Hashem Abedi, younger brother of the bomber, to UK
Plans by Libya to extradite the brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber to Britain have been put on hold while Tripoli remains under attack, the country’s interior minister has said.
Fathi Bashagha said a Libyan court had agreed to return 21-year-old Hashem Abedi – the younger brother of the bomber Salman Abedi – because he was a British citizen.
Continue reading...