Explosion At Manchester Arena

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Manchester attacker Salman Abedi 'planned attack for at least a year'

Suicide bomber reportedly opened bank account 12 months ago that lay dormant until he purchased nails and screws for explosive device

Lucy Pasha-Robinson

May 26 2017

The Manchester suicide bomber reportedly planned his deadly attack for at least a year. Salman Abedi opened a bank account 12 months ago that lay dormant until he used it to purchase the nails and screws used as shrapnel in Monday’s assault on Manchester Arena, The Times reported. Abedi is said to have made at least two separate trips to DIY shops to buy materials used in his homemade explosive device that killed 22 people and injured dozens more at the Manchester Arena on Monday. Abedi visited B&Q and Screwfix stores in the city before leaving for Libya in April, Times sources claimed. 

 

Officers discovered evidence of a "working bomb factory" at Salman Abedi’s address, according to The Telegraph, raising fears he may have distributed further explosive devices to other radical extremists. It comes after The Independent revealed on Thursday police and security services had found bomb-making materials in raids across the country, which they feared could be primed for imminent attacks.  Police are continuing to work to establish Abedi’s final movements after it emerged he flew back to Britain via Turkey and Germany just four days before carrying out his attack. 

 

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UPDATE

Manchester bomber’s brother ‘just as guilty’: Prosecutor

AFP, London

Tuesday, 4 February 2020

The brother of Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi went on trial in London on Tuesday, accused of helping him plot the attack that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert.

The blast on May 22, 2017 happened in a busy foyer of the venue in northwest England packed with men, women and children, and also injured more than 200 others.

Opening the case at the Old Bailey in London, England’s central criminal court, prosecutor Duncan Penny said Hashem Abedi was equally as responsible for the attack as his brother who carried it out.

“The prosecution’s case is that this defendant is just as guilty of the murder of the 22 people killed as was his brother,” he told the jury.

“He is equally guilty of the attempted murder of many others and in doing so he was guilty of agreeing with his brother to cause an explosion or explosions of a nature likely to endanger life.”

The court heard the attack was the result of months of planning, experimentation and preparation by the brothers.

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