The Sun has the first picture of Salman Abedi. They report he may have received terror training on trips to Syria and that forensic police carried a “Know your chemicals” booklet out of his home yesterday. He recently grew a beard and was seen chanting in Arabic in the street in the last few weeks.
The Times reports Abedi travelled to Libya three weeks ago and returned in the last week, and that he may have attended a terrorist training camp in the country.
The Mirror says he was known to security services as an associate of Raphael Hostey, the British ISIS recruiter who was reportedly killed in a drone strike in Syria last year.
The Guardian reports Abedi used a crude, homemade device constructed in Britain and packed in a bag. The FT says he was not the subject of any current intelligence inquiries, had a history of gang membership and only recently turned to radical Islam.
The Telegraph says a bomb-maker could still be at large and the Mail reports fears an Islamist terror cell is on the loose. That is why the threat level was raised.
Salman Abedi, 22, has been named by US officials as the bomber who carried out the Manchester Arena terror attack. The police had asked the media to hold off on publishing the name but several American news organisations including CBS and NBC ignored the request, citing anonymous US officials who leaked the details from their conversations with the British authorities. That is not going down well with the Brits…
Abedi is reportedly a British man of Libyan descent. Greater Manchester Police are expected to confirm shortly, after being beaten to it by their American colleagues…