28 May, 2017
In total eight men are now in custody following the attack, carried out by Manchester-born Abedi, a 22-year-old from a family of Libyan origin. A national counter-terrorism policing spokesperson said: "We greatly value the important relationships we have with our trusted intelligence, law enforcement and security partners around the world".
In other developments, the government has announced that a minute's silence will be held at 11am British time on Thursday in remembrance of those who lost their lives or were affected by the attack.
Manchester police are hunting down a network they think orchestrated the bombing, and the suspected perpetrator's father and brother were arrested in Tripoli. British authorities made the decision not to release Abedi's name to the public until after raids were conducted at his home.
The newspaper said there were no initial details of the type and strength of the explosive used in the attack.
Initial analysis of the various elements photographed at the scene suggests that suicide bomber Salman Abedi carried "an improvised device made with forethought and care", concealed most likely within a backpack but also possibly in a vest, wrote the paper.
Only hours earlier Amber Rudd, the home secretary, had rebuked the United States security services for leaking the bomber's name to American media before it had been made public in Britain, but her warnings appeared to have had no impact.
"I have been very clear with our friends that that should not happen again", Rudd had said. British officials believe the information released to the American media came from security agencies and not the White House.
The backlash from the British government has been furious - a senior Whitehall source told The Daily Telegraph that the leaks were "unacceptable" and risked compromising the investigation.
"When that trust is breached it undermines these relationships and undermines our investigations and the confidence of victims, witnesses and their families", he said. "This damage is even greater when it involves unauthorised disclosure of potential evidence in the middle of a major counter-terrorism investigation". The investigation is continuing and at the time of this writing, 10 men have been arrested and are being held in custody.
Manchester's mayor, Andy Burnham, told the BBC he had raised concerns about the leaks with the USA ambassador, while Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper said she was "very troubled" by those occurring in the middle of an investigation where public safety may be at risk. But they didn't. Burnham tweeted "They haven't. Arrogant, wrong and disrespectful to GM [Greater Manchester]".
However, British authorities were left "furious" by repeated leaks of material shared with their US counterparts, which provides an awkward backdrop for Prime Minister Theresa May's meeting with US President Donald Trump at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Brussels later Thursday. Much of the summit is expected to be about terrorism in the wake of the attack in Manchester.
