Police have identified the suicide bomber who murdered 22 people and injured 64 others at an Ariana Grande concert at England’s Manchester Arena on Monday night as 22-year-old Salman Abedi.
Abedi is believed to have used an improvised explosive device to carry out the attack at the concert, where mostly young teenage girls were in attendance. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a tweet Tuesday morning and at least one other person has been arrested in connection with the bombing, Manchester Police said via Twitter this morning.
RELATED: Names of first victims of Ariana Grande concert explosion in UK released
Abedi detonated his improvised explosive just outside the concert arena as the 20,000 in attendance were exiting the venue. It appears Abedi timed the attack to impose maximum casualties in the area just outside the security perimeter.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the attacker tried to “maximize carnage and to kill and injure indiscriminately.”
UK PM Theresa May says Manchester concert attacker aimed to cause “maximum carnage” with time and place of bomb https://t.co/Fs9sj0nnFT pic.twitter.com/GapoAvxRHB
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) May 23, 2017
Here’s what we know so far about Salman Abedi, the man identified as the attacker:
Manchester bomber had ISIS ties
British Interior Minister Amber Rudd said Salman Abedi had recently returned from a trip to Libya and her French counterpart said he had links with Islamic State and had probably visited Syria too, Reuters reported.
RELATED: Manchester bomber had ‘proven’ links to Islamic State, authorities say
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said British investigators had told French authorities Abedi had probably traveled to Syria as well.
“Today we only know what British investigators have told us — someone of British nationality, of Libyan origin, who suddenly after a trip to Libya, then probably to Syria, becomes radicalized and decides to carry out this attack,” Collomb told BFMTV.
Asked if he believed Abedi had the support of a network, Collomb said: “That is not known yet, but perhaps. In any case, (he had) links with Daesh (Islamic State) that are proven.”
Family of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi were Libyan refugees
The suicide bomber, Abedi, was born in Manchester in 1994 to Libyan refugee parents. He and is the second youngest of four children in the Abedi family, who emigrated to the UK from Libya under refugee status to escape the Gadhafi regime, the Telegraph reported.
Abedi’s mother Samia Tabbal, 50, and father, Ramadan Abedi, a security officer, were both born in Libya and emigrated first to London prior to moving to Fallowfield, a city just south of Manchester, where they have lived for 10 years.
Family of Salman Abedi has ties to Islam
Abedi’s sister, 18-year-old Jomana, has worked at the Manchester Islamic Centre’s Didsbury Mosque, the Telegraph reported.
The family grew up in the Whalley Range area, living beside the girl’s high school which made headlines in 2015 after twins Zahra and Salma Halane, two aspiring medical students, left England to live in Isis-controlled Syria.
Police investigating if Salman Abedi part of larger terrorist network
Manchester Police and U.K. officials are still they were working to determine whether Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi was operating as a lone wolf, of working with a larger terrorist network.
Police made three new arrests in South Manchester on Wednesday in connection with the concert bombing. They provided no details on the individuals held.
At least one other person was arrested. Manchester Police confirmed the arrest of a 23-year-old in South Manchester on Tuesday morning in connection with the bombing.
With regards to last night’s incident at the Manchester arena, we can confirm we have arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester.
— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 23, 2017
Police said they have executed at least two raids in the Manchester area and carried out a controlled detonation at one of the locations.
— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 23, 2017
“We are currently treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise. We are working closely with the national counter terrorism policing network and UK intelligence partners,” Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said in a statement. “This is clearly a concerning time for people but we are doing all we can working with local and national agencies to support those affected and gather information about what has happened tonight. As you will understand we are still receiving information and updates so will provide more details when we have a clearer picture.”
Latest statement on incident at Manchester Arena @CCIanHopkins pic.twitter.com/LDG1wgX2sT
— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 23, 2017