New pictures of the Manchester suicide bomber have been released by British police. The images show Salman Abedi apparently on his way to the Manchester Arena, where he killed 22 people. Britain’s interior minister Amber Rudd has said the police investigation continues at “full tilt” as other members of the Abedi’s network could “potentially” still be at large.
Richard Bestic filed this report.
Making his grim last journey these police photographs show the 22-year-old Manchester bomber, Salman Abedi en route to complete his dreadful act of carnage at the Manchester Arena. Police say he assembled the bomb himself in his rented flat.
While police raids and arrests have lowered the UK’s terror threat levels from critical to severe, Britain’s Home Secretary, Amber Rudd has told BBC television there could be more of Abedi’s network still be at large.
“I mean it’s an ongoing operation. There are 11 people in custody. The operation is still really at full tilt in a way and so until the operation is complete we can’t be entirely sure that it’s closed,” she said.
The speed and intensity of the police investigation have made rapid advances and, in the hours since the Home Secretary gave that interview, a 12th individual was arrested and is in police custody.
However, outside the realm of the crime itself, the government in Britain is also bracing itself for a political backlash as the country prepares to vote in an ongoing General Election.
Officials confirmed Abedi had recently returned from Libya and was known to British security services before the bombing. The government’s knowledge of Abedi will continue to raise questions in the weeks to come.
In Manchester, they’re grappling with a return to normal life.
In a weekend of high profile sporting events across the UK, 40,000 people took to the streets for the ‘Great Manchester Run’. Politicians and race officials have agonized over safety.
“We did think very carefully about it, but always we wanted to do it. Because we wanted to send out the message that you’re not going to beat us, you’re not going to change us, you’re not going to stop us doing what we want to do, to live the life we want to live,” said the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham.
Sentiments shared by many among the tens of thousands running the streets of Manchester.