Libya arrests brother, father of suspected Manchester attacker

TRIPOLI: Libya has arrested a brother and the father of the man suspected of carrying out the bombing in the British city of Manchester, a relative and security sources said on Wednesday.

The family source, asking not to be identified, said intelligence services had arrested Hashem Abedi, who like his older brother Salman was born in Britain, on Tuesday.

“The father, Ramadan Abedi, has also just been arrested,” said Ahmed bin Salem, a spokesman for the police of Libya’s Government of National Accord.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Monday’s deadly attack at the Manchester Arena and said it was carried out with an explosive device planted at the concert, according to a statement the group posted on Telegram.

At least 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a pop concert in the British city of Manchester, the country’s deadliest terror attack in 12 years. Screaming fans, many of them teenagers, fled the venue in panic after the bomb blast, which came at the end of a concert by US star Ariana Grande in the northern English city late on Monday.