26 May, 2017
And, authorities are now examining a potential connection between Abedi and Mohamed Abrini, believed to be one of the key plotters behind the 2015 Bataclan concert hall attack in Paris, as well as a dual suicide bombing that rocked a train station and the main worldwide airport in Brussels in March of that year.
Hollywood studio Warner Bros. said on Wednesday it had called off the May 31 "Wonder Woman" red-carpet event in London "in light of the current situation".
Meanwhile up to 10 victims have been identified so far by the British authorities. Armed police were seen on patrol outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London, another popular tourist spot.
Born in Britain to a devoutly Muslim Libyan family, Abedi was an "isolated, quiet, reserved individual" according to Mohamed Fadil, a spokesman for the Libyan community in Manchester.
The arrests came after detectives carried out a controlled explosion as they searched a property in the Moss Side area of Manchester in the early hours of Thursday. Authorities also took one man, identified by neighbors as the bomber's older brother, into custody outside a local grocery store.
UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd said yesterday that Abedi was known to security services "to a point" and it is believed intelligence agencies had dug into his connections with the Al Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) in his parents' homeland of Libya. "For this reason we didn't expect that the security forces would do something like this [attack on the house]".
Police are also probing the links between the Abedi brothers and another British-Libyan from Manchester, Abdalraouf Abdallah, who was sentenced to a nine-year-prison term after being convicted of funding terrorism and preparing acts of terrorism.
AP also reports that Ramadan Abedi himself has reported links to terror-related groups.
The terror threat remains at "critical", the highest level, as some 1,000 soldiers have been deployed to aid police, May said.
She also complained about U.S. officials leaking sensitive information about Abedi to the United States press.
"I think it's very clear that it's a network that we are dealing with", Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said on Wednesday afternoon. In addition to those killed in the concert attack, Manchester officials raised to 119 the number of people who sought medical treatment after the attack, including those who traveled to hospitals on their own.
The British government has expressed its anger at the release in U.S. media of details from the investigation into Monday's concert attack, including photographs of parts of the bomb which left 22 people dead, including children.
Crew members were left "emotional and shaken" by being made to wait to attend the scene at Manchester Arena where 22 people were killed and dozens seriously injured, a union official told the Standard.
"There is damage to major organs, major injuries in terms of limbs and some of these individuals are going to need very long term care and support".
The government said a minute's silence would be held at all official buildings at 1000 GMT (6.00 a.m. ET) on Thursday.
