Police have named the suicide bomber behind the Manchester Arena attack, which killed at least 22 people and left dozens more injured, as Salman Abedi.
Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said that police will not be commenting any further on Abedi, as he has not been formally identified by the coroner, but details are beginning to emerge of the British-born 22-year-old.
Who is Salman Abedi?
Abedi is believed to have been born in Manchester in 1994 and is of Libyan origin.
His parents came to the UK from Libya, looking to escape the Gaddafi regime.
He has three siblings and grew up in the Whalley Range area, which became famous after schoolgirls Zahra and Salma Halane left home and fled to Syria in 2015.
Armed officers raided the address of the Manchester Arena bombing suspect and carried out a controlled explosion at the property on Elsmore Road, Fallowfield, on Tuesday.
A ‘Know Your Chemicals’ booklet was found, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Neighbours expressed their shock over the attack, but added that those who lived in the property were not known particularly well in the community.
“They weren’t known to anyone which round here is really unusual,” one person told The Independent. “We virtually live in each other’s pockets round here - it’s that kind of area. Everybody knows everybody.
“It’s a very tight community, we do the best to support each other. It’s a very neighbourly area and it’s certainly not something you would expect in Fallowfield.”
US broadcaster CBS reported that Abedi was known to British authorities prior to the attack.
The Attack
So-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which targeted crowds as they left an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena at about 10.30pm.
The youngest victim named so far is eight-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos.
Georgina Callander, 18 and John Atkinson, 28, were also killed in the attack.
Abedi was carrying an improvised explosive device which he detonated.
A 23-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the attack.
US media outlets have identified a man arrested earlier today as the brother of suspected bomber Abedi.
