28 May, 2017
Manchester police arrested a man reported to be Abedi's brother.
British media reported that Abdul Wahab Hafidah died after being run over and stabbed in the neck in Manchester's Moss Side district in May previous year. Police said Thursday that a woman arrested in Blackley had been released without charge.
"The arrests we have made are significant, and initial searches of premises have revealed items that we believe are very important to the investigation", he said.
Libyan authorities had been following Hashem Abedi, the suspect's brother who was born 1997, for a month and a half because of suspected links to ISIS, said Ahmed Dagdoug, the spokesman for Libya's counter terror forces.
This follows the initial information leak, which happened just after the attack itself, with the identity of the 22-year-old British-born bomber Salman Abedi revealed by CBS, NBC, and then Reuters, citing US officials, the Guardian reported.
Eight men have now been detained in connection with Monday's attack. Details of the benefit concert were not immediately known.
Earlier, Sky News claimed that they have found evidence linking Salman Abedi to an IS cell operating in Manchester. But the steady stream of information appearing in US press has persuaded Greater Manchester Police to take the extraordinary step of no longer sharing information on the investigation with the Americans, the BBC reported.
Theresa May is to raise concerns with Donald Trump at a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation meeting later.
Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi phoned his mother just hours before blowing himself up at Manchester Arena on Monday night (local time).
As of Thursday, the identity of the officials who leaked the information remains unknown but at a press conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would continue to share intelligence despite the leaks.
In the note, Grande praised her fans for their response to the incident, which left 22 people dead and more than 60 injured, including young children and teens.
