Manchester attack: Teenager among eight arrested over deadly bombing

Total of 10 people detained since atrocity 'on suspicion of offences contrary to the Terrorism Act'

Armed police patrol the track in the centre of Manchester (EPA)

Eight suspects aged between 18 and 38 are in custody in connection with the Manchester bombing, counter-terror detectives said.

Greater Manchester Police provided the first full breakdown of arrests made in the huge investigation into whether a "network" supported Salman Abedi's suicide attack at Manchester Arena on Monday night.

It came as a minister revealed 12,000 people have previously surfaced on the radar of counter-terror agencies, on top of the 3,000 being monitored as part of 500 live probes.

Twenty-two people were killed in the blast, including seven children, while on Friday NHS England said 66 injured were still being treated across eight hospitals, 23 of whom are in critical care.

A total of 116 people have required hospital care in the wake of the atrocity, the health service added.

Between Tuesday and Friday, 10 people were arrested "on suspicion of offences contrary to the Terrorism Act".

A 16-year-old boy arrested in Withington on Thursday and a 34-year-old woman arrested In Blackley on Wednesday have been released without charge.

Those still in custody are:

:: Ismail Abedi, 24, the bomber's brother, arrested in Whalley Range, south Manchester, on Tuesday.

:: An 18-year-old man, a 21-year-old man and a 24-year-old man arrested during a swoop on the Fallowfield area of the city on Wednesday.

:: A 33-year-old man held in Wigan, having been detained carrying a suspicious package on Wednesday.

:: A 22-year-old man arrested in Nuneaton at gunpoint by counter-terror officers on Wednesday.

:: A 38-year-old man arrested in Blackley, north-east Manchester, on Thursday.

:: A 30-year-old man detained in the early hours of Friday morning in Moss Side, south Manchester.

Security minister Ben Wallace told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was no specific threat against an individual event at the moment.

Whitehall sources revealed on Thursday that security services are managing around 500 active investigations relating to 3,000 people of interest.

Abedi was known to security services before his deadly assault, sources previously confirmed.

"All those people are in the mix and they have to be looked at," said Mr Wallace.

"And then below the 3,000 is another 12,000 people who have in the past come to our attention and haven't necessarily shown signs of doing anything at all, or no longer pose a risk.

"All of that is predominately underpinned by intelligence, which as I'm sure you will understand and the courts certainly understand, unfortunately the hardest part is we've got to convert intelligence into evidence if we actually want to deprive people of their liberty or take certain steps."

A search of an address in St Helens, Merseyside, concluded on Friday morning, police said, although it remained unclear how it was connected to the bombing.

In Moss Side, a cordon was in place around the Fade Away barbershop in Princess Road, near to the junction of Claremont Road, which neighbours said had been closed since Monday's attack.

It is understood that an armed response unit arrived in Princess Road in the early hours of the morning and that the shutter to the barbershop was cut open at about 5.15am.

Police have yet to confirm if the raid was in connection with the ongoing investigation into the suicide bombing.

Officers were also guarding the front of a terrace house in Dorset Avenue in the area, where up to 30 armed officers had come at around 2am on Friday.

Neighbours reported seeing several people taken away.

Greater Manchester Police previously hailed the "significant" arrests made and the "very important" items seized in raids as they attempt to close the net on Abedi's suspected terror network.

Elsewhere, Jeremy Corbyn brought the issue of terrorism into the political arena as General Election campaigning resumed on Friday following a three-day hiatus.

The Labour leader launched a veiled attack on the Conservatives for underfunding the police service at a time of heightened threat, while linking Britain's overseas military campaigns with terrorism at home.

Speaking after chairing a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee, Home Secretary Amber Rudd disclosed that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has assessed that the terror threat level should remain at critical while the "live" police operation continues.

The rating was raised to critical, the highest level, for the first time in a decade in the wake of the Manchester outrage. It indicates that an attack may be imminent.

A relative of the 22-year-old bomber said he had felt increasing frustration at his treatment in the UK, heightened after a friend was fatally knifed in what he perceived to be a religious hate crime.

She added Abedi began referring to others in the country as "infidels" who were "unjust to Arabs".

Music fans were targeted at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in the worst terrorist attack on British soil since the July 7 bombing in London in 2005.

Press Association