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May 25, 2017

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Soldiers deployed at key UK sites as police probe bombing ‘network’

Source: AP | 00:01 UTC+8 May 25, 2017 | Print Edition

BRITISH security forces raided a building in central Manchester yesterday as they investigated “a network” of people allegedly behind the city’s concert bombing.

Hundreds of soldiers were sent to secure key sites across the country, including Buckingham Palace and the British Parliament at Westminster.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the bomber, Salman Abedi, “likely” did not act alone when he killed 22 people and wounded nearly 120 at an Ariana Grande concert on Monday night. She said he had been known to security forces “up to a point.” Abedi, a 22-year-old British citizen born to Libyan parents, died in the attack.

Rudd complained about US officials leaking sensitive information about Abedi to the press, saying that could take “the element of surprise” away from Britain’s security services and police.

“I have been very clear with our friends that that should not happen again,” she said.

In addition to those killed, officials raised to 119 the number of people who sought medical treatment after the attack, 20 of them with critical injuries.

Sixty-four people are still in hospital.

“I think it’s very clear this is a network we are investigating,” Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said, confirming that an off-duty officer was among those killed.

Many at the concert were young girls and teenagers enthralled by Grande’s pop power — and those who died included an 8-year-old girl.

Officials are examining Abedi’s trips to Libya as they piece together his allegiances and try to foil any new potential threats. The government said nearly 1,000 soldiers were deployed instead of police to high-profile sites in London and elsewhere.

Britain raised its threat level from terrorism to “critical” late on Tuesday amid concerns that Abedi may have accomplices planning another attack. Abedi grew up in Manchester’s southern suburbs and once attended Salford University there.

Police said three suspects were arrested yesterday around Manchester, and Abedi’s father told reporters that Abedi’s brother Ismail was arrested in the area on Tuesday.

In yesterday’s raid on an apartment building in Manchester, heavily armed police blasted an apartment door open with a controlled explosion. The building, Granby House, is popular with students and young professionals.

Muye Li, a 23-year-old student who lives on the same floor as the raided apartment, said he thought officers were looking for a woman because they “asked me if I had seen the lady next door.”

Troops fanned out across London yesterday and authorities reconsidered security plans.

The changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace was canceled so police officers could be redeployed, Britain’s defense ministry said.

The Palace of Westminster, which houses the British Parliament, was also closed to all those without passes, and tours and events there canceled until further notice. Armed police also patrolled outside St Paul’s Cathedral, another popular tourist spot in the UK capital.

The Chelsea football team said it would cancel Sunday’s victory parade in London that was to have celebrated the team’s Premier League title win.

“We are sure our fans will understand this decision,” the team said, adding that the parade would have diverted police from the bombing investigation.

Speaking from the Libyan city of Tripoli yesterday, the father of the alleged Manchester attacker denied that his son was linked to militants or to the bombing. Ramadan Abedi said that when he spoke to his son five days ago, he sounded “normal.”

The senior Abedi fled Tripoli in 1993 after Moammar Gadhafi’s security authorities issued an arrest warrant for him and eventually sought political asylum in Britain. He is now a manager for the Central Security force in Tripoli.

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