Revenge for Syria drove bomber, says sister

Salman Abedi launched his suicide attack out of "a love of Islam" and in twisted revenge for US air strikes on Syria, his sister has said.

Jamona Abedi failed to condemn her brother's murderous actions, instead claiming to offer an explanation for the atrocity.

Jamona, who lives in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, said her brother had become increasingly violent over the past year, convinced that Muslims were under attack in the UK and abroad.

She posted a prayer in mourning for her brother on her Facebook page and suggested the bombing of Syria ordered by US President Donald Trump in early April had been the final straw; the catalyst for Monday night's carnage in Manchester.

"He did what he did in revenge, and in love for Islam," she said. "I think he saw children - Muslim children - dying everywhere, and wanted revenge. He saw the explosives America drops on children in Syria, and he wanted revenge."

She told the Wall Street Journal: "But still, I never thought my brother would ever do this one day. Looking at how he was with us, we didn't expect him to do what he did."

Salman, born in Manchester in 1994, was one of at least four children who grew up in a home with Islamist jihad connections; his father was a prominent member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group that was banned in the UK more than a decade ago, and which had fought to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.

Two brothers, Ismael and Hashem, have been arrested following Monday's atrocity. Ismael is being held by British police while Hashem, at 20 the youngest brother, has been detained in Tripoli, accused of knowing about Monday's attack and plotting one of his own in Libya.

In the same street lived another LIFG member, Abd al-Baset Azzouz, who in 2011 ran an al-Qaeda camp teaching recruits how to make bombs.

Salman had seemingly eschewed his religion and his Islamist roots for much of his teenage years. Friends have described him as a typical teenager who supported Manchester United and enjoyed parties, drinking and smoking cannabis. He was nicknamed Dumbo for his big ears.

Family life in Manchester appeared stable and largely uneventful despite his father's status as a Gaddafi dissident. The Arab Spring changed all that. Enticed by the prospect of overthrowing Gaddafi, Salman's father Ramadan Abedi decided in 2011 to take up arms against the dictator.

He took Salman, then aged 16, to fight alongside him, said a family friend. The move to Libya caused serious disruption.

By 2012, Salman's behaviour was already troubling. Two friends had become so worried they telephoned a counter-terrorism hotline to report him. Nothing was ever done about it. It was the first of several missed opportunities.

In Libya, it is believed he came under the influence of a radical preacher called Abdul-Basit Ghwela, according to a US official.

Ghwela, a Canadian dual national, has been accused of inciting violence and recruiting young men to wage jihad in eastern Libya.

Salman returned for good to the UK in 2014, making the occasional trip back to Tripoli. His mother, Samia Tabbal, 50, who is said to have graduated "top of her class" from the University of Tripoli after studying nuclear engineering, went with him.

Salman went back to college in Britain before taking up a place at the University of Salford in Manchester. A year later, in 2015, he dropped out. He became increasingly religious, wearing Islamic dress. Neighbours would see him praying in the street, reciting the Koran.

German authorities said that in 2015 he travelled to Frankfurt, a trip under investigation in case he met jihadists there. It is more likely he was passing through, possibly in transit to Syria via Turkey but more likely to see his parents in Libya.

Manchester's Didsbury Mosque claimed to have thrown him out after he confronted the imam over a lecture against Islamic State.

In October last year, his mother returned to Tripoli to join her husband. Salman stayed behind, most likely practising how to make his deadly bomb. At the start of the month, he was reunited with his family but only stayed three weeks. Unbeknown to his family, he was presumably saying his goodbyes.

But his parents had become so alarmed about his behaviour that they had taken his passport, preventing his return to the UK. They relented after Salman persuaded them he wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

It was being reported this week that in the months after his mother went back to Libya, Salman went to Syria for Islamic State training.

A US official told CNN that the possible trip to Syria formed part of the preliminary investigation by British counterterrorist police. But security sources say the focus is on events in Libya.

On Wednesday May 17, having told his parents he was flying to Saudi, he instead boarded a plane from Libya to Istanbul.

From there he flew to Dusseldorf, arriving in the UK on Thursday, just four days before the Manchester Arena attack.