On Thursday 1st October, as the public inquiry in the Manchester arena attack of 2017 continues, it was reported that the bomber had come to MI5’s attention at least 18 times. This included his attempts to travel to Syria and his links to Islamic State fundraisers, The Times reported.
According to the inquiry, Salman Abedi was identified associating with six MI5 “subjects of interest” [SOI], including a man previously linked to al-Qaeda who was under investigation for helping extremists to travel to Syria besides travelling to Istanbul in 2016. The paper also reported that the Intelligence officers were aware that a contact of Abedi’s had “links to a senior figure” in ISIS. The inquiry heard that Abedi came to MI5’s attention in 2010 and was made an SOI in 2014 because of links to an IS recruiter. Other times that he appeared on the radar, included for his link to suspects who were helping to facilitate travel to Syria and another affiliated to Isis in Libya.
However, the case was closed in March 2014 because there was “no intelligence indicating that he posed a threat to national security”. In February 2015 and January 2017 Abedi made separate visits to jails in Britain to Abdalraouf Abdallah, a convicted terrorist. Twice in the months before the attack intelligence was received by MI5 about Abedi which was assessed at the time to relate to “possibly innocent activity” or to “non-terrorist criminality”.
But Ms McGahey QC for the Home Office told the inquiry that even if MI5 had taken different decisions in the months before the attack it may not have deterred Abedi. She said there were “enormous challenges in assessing intelligence, trying to work out what the risk is, who poses the greatest risk and seeking to predict what individuals are intending to do next”.
In another development the lawyers for the fire service admitted that its response to the bombing was “neither adequate nor effective”. Crews had failed to arrive for two hours after the bombing. The Manchester Arena attack had killed 22 people and injured hundreds in 2017.
The public inquiry continues.
