26 May, 2017
The bomber, Salman Abedi, 22, a British man of Libyan descent, had spent three weeks in Libya prior to the attack-returning to United Kingdom soil just days before detonating an explosive at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena.
Police and security services investigating the suicide bomb attack in Manchester, UK, on Monday are looking into the connections and history of the man who detonated the deadly blast.
The Guardian newspaper in London said that Prime Minister Theresa May will confront U.S. President Donald Trump over the stream of leaks of crucial intelligence when the pair meet Thursday at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit meeting in Brussels. The item might be the bomb's trigger, or nothing more than the remains of an e-cigarette, according to one explosives expert who spoke to the Times.
Police scrambled to close down a network around the Manchester suicide bomber with arrests in Britain and Tripoli on Wednesday, as details about the investigation were leaked to US media, infuriating authorities who fear a second attack is imminent.
A photo published by the BBC reportedly of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi.
Manchester police Chief Ian Hopkins said the story and photographs were "distressing" to victims' families.
If confirmed, the halt to the sharing investigative details with Britain's most important defence and security ally would underscore the level of anger in Britain at leaks to the USA media of details about the police investigation.
Trump said his administration will "get to the bottom" of the leaks and pursue possible prosecution.
"There is no relationship we cherish more than the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom", he said in a statement.
Asked whether he had any concerns about intelligence sharing within NATO, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will continue to "collaborate" as usual with its allies.
It said its coverage of the attack "has been both comprehensive and responsible".
Friends, family and members of Abedi's mosque all reported the 22-year-old British-born terrorist to anti-terror hotlines as far back as five years ago, but action appeared to have not been taken.
The elder Abedi told The Associated Press by telephone from Tripoli: "We don't believe in killing innocents".
But the National Counter Terrorism Policing body said the investigation was being "undermined". A spokesman for the local counter-terrorism force said younger brother Hashem Abedi was arrested on suspicion of links with ISIL and was suspected of planning to carry out an attack in the Libyan capital.
The UK leader was expected to raise concerns with Mr Trump about the leaks and will push for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to join the coalition fighting Islamic State extremists in the Middle East.
However, a woman arrested last night was released without charges.
Manchester police, meanwhile, made several new arrests.
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.
