Manchester bomber Salman Abedi wanted 'revenge' for airstrikes in Syria, sister says

The 18-year-old described her brother as 'kind' and 'loving'

Lucy Pasha-Robinson
Thursday 25 May 2017 20:27 BST
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Salman Abedi - what we know about the Manchester attacker

The sister of the Manchester suicide bomber said he may have been motivated by revenge for US airstrikes in Syria.

Jomana Abedi said her brother Salman, who blew himself up on Monday claiming the lives of 22 people and injuring dozens more, said she was surprised by what he had done.

The 18-year-old also described him as “kind” and “loving”, as it emerged family members had warned authorities Abedi was “dangerous” in the past.

“I think he saw children - Muslim children - dying everywhere, and wanted revenge," Ms Abedi told the Wall Street Journal.

"He saw the explosives America drops on children in Syria, and he wanted revenge. Whether he got that is between him and God.”

The 22-year-old Mancunian-born attacker reportedly called his mother and brother just 15 minutes before launching his deadly attack on Manchester Arena on Monday.

According to a Libyan anti-terror official, Abedi asked his mother Samia Tabbal to “forgive me”.

His father Ramadan and younger brother Hashem have now been arrested in Libya, with the latter confessing to knowing "all the details" of the terror plot.

His older brother Ismail was detained by police in the UK.

Police focused their efforts on identifying the network that Abedi belonged to on Thursday and made “significant” arrests in a number of raids across the country.

A number of items they believe are “very important” to the investigation were seized and security sources said they had found bomb-making materials.

One suspect device was blown up in a controlled explosion and security sources previously said there is a possibility that other materials are yet to be found.

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