Father, younger brother of Manchester attacker nabbed in Tripoli

The dragnet of arrests of those involved in the deadly suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester has spread to Libya with counter-terrorism forces arresting the father and younger brother of the attacker identified as 23-year old man, Salman Abedi.

Reports say, the father, Ramadan Abedi, who was outside his home in the Tripoli suburb of Ayn Zara on Wednesday afternoon was arrested by counter-terrorism force. He was handcuffed by armed men who drove him away in two unmarked vehicles according to eyewitnesses.

The attacker’s brother, Hashem Abedi, was also arrested on suspicion of links to Islamic State, spokesman for the counter-terrorism force, Ahmed Bin Salem said. He did not give any details on the reasons why the father was arrested.

Read also: Brace-up, more attacks “imminent”, British PM warns citizens as security alert is raised

Police say they have evidence that Hashem Abedi had been in touch with attacker Salman Abedi, and was suspected of planning to carry out an attack in the Libyan capital.

“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,” Bin Salem said. “He was in contact with his brother and he knew about the attack.”

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May has warned her nationals of more imminent terrorists attacks following a deadly suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester even as security threat levels has been raised from “severe” to “critical”.

In a televised address late on Tuesday, May warned that her government cannot ignore the possibility that there is “a wider group of individuals linked to this attack” in Manchester that killed 22 people and injured many others.

 

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