29 May, 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May will reportedly tell President Trump that shared intelligence "must remain secure", according to reports on Thursday. The two world leaders will likely see each other at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
Details regarding the name of the alleged bomber, Salman Abedi, were published in US media before British police released that information to United Kingdom media.
British officials are particularly angry that photos detailing evidence about the bomb used in the Manchester attack were published in The New York Times, although it's not clear that the paper obtained the photos from USA officials.
May insisted Thursday that progress is being made in the Manchester bombing investigation but added the national threat level remains critical - meaning another attack may be imminent.
Investigators would typically pass along the collected information to National Counter-Terrorism, the BBC noted, which would then share it with the US and other allies.
That would indicate that, while police forces may not be sharing information with counterparts across the Atlantic such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the national intelligence-sharing arrangements involving MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are not affected. A USA law enforcement official later authenticated the photos and said they had been provided by British authorities to American investigators, CNBC reported.
Some of the clues suggesting Abedi was part of a wider terror network in Manchester have been revealed in leaked photos of the remnants of the bomb itself.
Monday night's attack saw a 22-year-old suicide bomber target a concert in the northern English city of Manchester, killing at least 22 people.
Hopkins confirmed on Thursday that eight men remain in custody and a woman who was arrested yesterday has been released.
Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told reporters it was very clear they were investigating what he described as "a network". "This damage is even greater when it involves unauthorised disclosure of potential evidence in the middle of a major counterterrorism investigation".
Security services found bomb-making materials during a number of raids following the attack at the Manchester Arena.
Queen Elizabeth II visited Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, telling 14-year-old Evie Mills and her parents: "It's terrible". Trump shared sensitive information about Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in a meeting with Russian officials last week; he denied that the details came from Israel, which some media had reported, and defended providing the information about airline safety.
In Libya, bin Salem said Abedi's mother told investigators her son had left for the United Kingdom four days before the attack after spending a month in Libya. May said at the time Britain would continue to share information with Washington.
Abedi's family remained a focus, too, with a brother in the United Kingdom and his father and another brother in Libya among those being detained.
"I think it's pretty disgusting", said Scott Lightfoot, a Manchester resident, speaking outside a train station in the city.
"The alleged leaks coming out of government agencies are deeply troubling". It added that Manchester police are now "furious" about leaks that shared information about the crime scene and the bomber's name. If our intel services are leaking British intelligence to the media, that's a much different - and much more damaging - issue altogether.
