United Kingdom stops sharing Manchester attack intelligence with USA after leaks

Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi was a British-born university dropout
Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi was a British-born university dropout
Author

29 May, 2017

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.

The threat level was raised to critical, its highest level, on Tuesday, for the first time in 10 years.

Those included five since the Westminster attack in March this year.

The source said: "MI5 is managing around 500 active investigations, involving some 3,000 subjects of interest (SOIs) at any one time".

"Where former SOIs show sufficient risk of re-engaging in terrorism, MI5 can consider reopening the investigation, but this process inevitably relies on hard professional judgments based on partial information".

Authorities in the United Kingdom believe Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, likely had the help of a terror network and are hunting for clues to this.

The killer's sister, Jomana Abedi, told the Wall Street Journal her brother may have been reacting to US-led strikes in the Middle East.

Mohammed Fadl, a spokesman for Libyan expatriates in Manchester, said Salman's family was well known in the community, especially his elder brother Ismail, but said Salman "was not socially involved in the community".

"I think he saw children - Muslim children - dying everywhere, and wanted revenge".

Abedi's father and younger brother were arrested in Tripoli in Libya, where the family originally come from.

The bombing, which took place at the Manchester Arena indoor venue just after the end of a concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande, was the deadliest in Britain since July 2005, when 52 people were killed in attacks on London's transport network.

But it is not known what U.S. official is responsible for leaking photos of the bomb remnants to the New York Times, a revelation that outraged British authorities.

Defending its decision to publish the pictures the New York Times said: "The images and information presented were neither graphic nor disrespectful of victims, and consistent with the common line of reporting on weapons used in horrific crimes".

British Prime Minister Theresa May will raise the issue with US President Donald Trump when she meets him at a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Brussels later on Thursday, a government source told Reuters.

The president criticised the leaks and vowed to investigate.

"The alleged leaks coming out of government agencies are deeply troubling", Trump said in a statement issued by the White House. These leaks have been going on for a long time and my Administration will get to the bottom of this.

"I am asking the Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to launch a complete review of this matter, and if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law".

One top police official from an European Union member state that deals extensively with both countries chuckled at the two countries, both of whom are considered by European Union allies to be a bit arrogant.

"The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise", Rudd told BBC's Radio 4 Wednesday. British authorities identified Abedi as the bomber responsible for the explosion in Manchester that killed 22 people.

Prof Bob Pearson, medical director of Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust, said 18 adults and 14 children injured in the blast remained in hospital.

The National Health Service confirmed the injury toll had risen to 116, with 75 admitted to hospital and 23 under close care.

After bowing their heads in silence, the grieving crowd in Manchester's St Ann's Square broke into a spontaneous, gentle rendition of "Don't Look Back in Anger" by the city's own Britpop band Oasis.

Home searches across Manchester have uncovered important items for the investigation into the concert bombing that left 22 people dead, Manchester's police chief announced Thursday.

"It's true American law enforcement "briefs" the media more on an ongoing investigation than maybe the British, but ask any policeman in the EU: The worst thing for an investigation is a British media circus", he said.


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