Police release new CCTV images of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi
Written by News on 13/06/2017
New photos of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi have been released by police as they continue to piece together his final days.
Greater Manchester Police say they now have a "deep understanding" of the attacker’s movements before he detonated a bomb at the end of a sold-out Ariana Grande concert on 22 May.
Detective Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson confirmed 29 house searches have been conducted over the past three weeks – and evidence of explosive material has been found at several locations with links to Abedi.
Officers are appealing for information about red and blue barrels which were stored in a Nissan Micra that Abedi had made "repeated trips" to before his attack.
A search is also continuing at a landfill site for a blue suitcase which may contain "crucial evidence" that the 22-year-old discarded after assembling the bomb.
Mr Jackson said: "Our enquiries show that the assembly of the device is likely to have been by Abedi himself. What is less clear is whether he acted alone in obtaining the materials for the device…and whether others knew or were complicit in the storage of materials knowing what was being planned."
He also revealed that Abedi was identified within two hours of detonating the bomb in Manchester city centre which killed 22 people.
Police now have a "deep understanding" of the terrorist’s movements in the weeks leading up to the attack. Abedi had visited Libya on 15 April and returned on 18 May.
Officers also know that he tried to send money out of the UK in the days leading up to the bombing.
Mr Jackson added that British police want to interview Hasham Abedi, the attacker’s brother, who is currently being detained in Libya.
Some 22 people have been arrested in connection with the bombing, but all of them have been released without charge.
The bomb – which was packed with a "massive number" of small metal objects to kill as many people as possible – claimed the lives of 22 people, and injured dozens of others.
More than 1,000 officers have so far been involved in the ongoing investigation, with 8,000 entries on police logging system and at least 700 devices, such as phones, seized for examination.
(c) Sky News 2017: Police release new CCTV images of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi
