On Monday night, Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber attacked the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena, and killed 22 wounding nearly 120 people. Abedi’s brother was arrested in Tripoli for alleged links with the terror group Islamic State.
According to Rada, spokesperson of local counter terrorism force said the brother was identified as Hashem Abedi and was born in 1997. Ahmed Bin Salem, the spokesperson said, “Hashem Abedi had been in touch with attacker Salman Abedi.” He added, “We have evidence that he is involved in Daesh (Islamic State) with his brother. We have been following him for more than one month and a half. He was in contact with his brother and he knew about the attack.”
Reports also say that Ramadan Abedi, the father of the attacker has been arrested. Salman, who is 22, was born to Libyan parents. The Interior Minister of Britain said the family has recently returned back from Libya and they had not likely acted alone in the bombing. However, Associated Press said that Ramadan had claimed his son was innocent and was preparing for Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Ramadan also know as Abu Ismail said, “We don’t believe in killing innocents. This is not us. We aren’t the ones who blow up ourselves among innocents. We go to mosques. We recite Quran, but not that.”
This attack in Manchester is considered the deadliest after 2005 in Britain. In July 2005 four suicide bombers in a coordinated attack on the London transport network killed 52 people.
Pictures from the aftermath of the attack at the Manchester Arena:
