28 May, 2017
A British official told The Associated Press on Thursday that police in Manchester have chose to stop sharing information about their bombing investigation with the United States until they get a guarantee that there will be no more leaks to the media.
Prime Minister Theresa May will confront President Donald Trump over USA media leaks from the Manchester bombing probe, as one of the closest intelligence-sharing partnerships is tested as never before in the fight against global terrorism.
President Donald Trump has apologised and launched a probe into the series of revelations, which left Greater Manchester Police and United Kingdom counter-terror officers furious.
"When that trust is breached, it undermines these relationships and undermines our investigations".
In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Counter Terrorism Policing underscored the importance of the trust between US and British law enforcement officials and said "when that trust is breached it undermines these relationships, and undermines our investigations and the confidence of victims, witnesses and their families".
Home Secretary Amber Rudd had said she was "irritated" by the disclosure of Abedi's identity against the UK's wishes and had warned Washington "it should not happen again".
"Another man has been arrested in the Manchester area in connection with this investigation, bringing the total number of men in custody to eight", Greater Manchester Police said. They also said they had released a woman without charge after she was arrested in Blackley.
With the official threat level raised to "critical", meaning a further attack could be imminent, troops have been deployed to free up police, and armed officers patrolled trains for the first time in Britain.
The incident, which came as concertgoers were preparing to leave an Ariana Grande concert in the city's heart, took the lives of at least 22 people, including several children. Abedi's father and younger brother were arrested in Tripoli in Libya.
Mr Rowley said: "We need to grow our confidence that we have got every component of the network and we have got as full an understanding as possible about how the device was constructed and whether there's any remaining risk".
Arrests by officers hunting the network behind the Manchester Arena bombing are "significant", police chief Ian Hopkins said on Thursday.
Security forces rounded up more suspects Wednesday in the deadly Manchester concert blast and soldiers fanned out across the country to national landmarks as an on-edge Britain tried to thwart the possibility of additional attacks.
United Kingdom police initially said they believed bombing suspect Salman Abedi acted alone, but on Wednesday they revised their analysis, saying they were investigating "a network".
"It's awful. Very wicked, to target that sort of thing, " the 91-year-old monarch told 14-year-old Evie Mills and her parents.
Abedi flew to Manchester via the German city of Dusseldorf, a German police spokesman confirmed Thursday.
The attack injured 116 people, of whom 75 were admitted to hospital and 23 remain in a very serious condition, health authorities said.
Salman Abedi, a college dropout who grew up in the Manchester area, was known to security services because of his radical views.
