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MI5 launches urgent inquiries into missed Manchester warnings

UK secret intelligence service MI5 has reportedly launched two urgent inquiries into how it could...
Newstalk
Newstalk

08.15 29 May 2017


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MI5 launches urgent inquiries...

MI5 launches urgent inquiries into missed Manchester warnings

Newstalk
Newstalk

08.15 29 May 2017


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UK secret intelligence service MI5 has reportedly launched two urgent inquiries into how it could have missed the danger posed by the Manchester suicide bomber.

The move comes amid claims suspect Salmen Abedi was repeatedly reported to authorities by teachers and religious leaders concerned that he may become a terrorist.

The Guardian reports that one review – started last week – aims to identify any glaring errors, while the other will be more in depth, examining the process used to assess suspects and asking if different decisions should have been made in Abedi's case.

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Abedi is thought to have received terrorist training in Libya before returning to the UK just days before killing 22 people.

Ongoing investigation

It comes as a 23-year-old man was arrested overnight on suspicion of terror offences in connection with the attack.

The arrest was made in the early hours of Monday morning at an address in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, Greater Manchester Police said.

It brings to 14 the number of people being questioned by police.

Full tilt

Officers carried out a number of searches and raids across the city yesterday, while the British Home Secretary said the investigation was still at 'full tilt.'

She said investigators cannot be entirely sure that Salman Abedi's terror network has been dismantled - and warned other members of the bomber's group are "potentially" still at large.

54 people injured in the attack are still being treated in hospital - with 19 of them critical.

Police have issued CCTV images of Abedi in a plea for information about his movements in the days before the explosion targeting a sold-out Ariana Grande concert on 22 May.

Image: Greater Manchester Police

During her interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Ms Rudd also said Islamic State was trying to "weaponise" young Britons.

She went on to defend the work of the security services, amid reports that warnings about Abedi were not followed up.

Abedi had been a former "subject of interest" to MI5, but Ms Rudd said: "The intelligence services are still collecting information about him and about the people around him."

"But I would not rush to conclusions, as you seem to be, that they have somehow missed something," she said.

Ms Rudd also revealed that powers to ban suspected jihadis from returning to the UK have been used for the first time.

She refused to say how many times temporary exclusion orders had been used, but confirmed "we have started to use them."


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