Manchester Jihadi Salman Abedi Had Just Returned From Libya

Details are starting to emerge about Salman Abedi, the terrorist who blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 adults and children and injuring more than 100 — and what’s clear so far is this: He born in Britain to a family of Libyan refugees.

Moreover, his father, an airport security official, had recently left the United Kingdom to go fight in Libya.

And Salman himself?

He’d recently returned from a trip to Libya, too.

From the Daily Mail:

“Born in Manchester in 1994, the third of four children, his parents were Libyan refugees who came to the UK to escape the Gaddafi regime and his father is a suspected fighter who left the UK in 2011 to try to overthrow the Libyan leader.

“Ramadan Abedi, an airport security officer who is thought to have worked at Manchester Airport, emigrated to London with his wife Samia Tabbal, 50, before moving to the Fallowfield area of south Manchester where they settled in a housing association-owned home about two miles from the scene of Monday night’s terror attack.

“Friends and neighbours said Abedi appeared to be a normal football-mad teenager who was a massive Manchester United fan and spent hours playing computer games on the PS4

“But everything changed in 2011 when his father abruptly left his job and home in the anonymous suburb to fight in Libya, leaving his family to fend for themselves, according to a local imam.

“Abedi and his brothers appear to have followed in his footsteps by sharing stories of British jihadis fighting in Syria on social networks and even praying in the street.

“Within hours of the attack carried out by Abedi, police arrested his brother Ismail, 23, outside a Morrison’s in Chorlton, Manchester and last night they were quizzing him on suspicion of involvement in the bombing. …

“Abedi is thought to have attended multiple schools in Manchester Claremont Primary School including Burnage Academy, William Hulme and Stretford Grammar School.

“Leon Hall, who went to school with Abedi, told Mail Online he saw the killer last year and said he had grown a beard. He also said the jihadist was a keen Manchester United fan.

“Mr Hall said: ‘I saw him last year and he had a beard thing going on. We didn’t speak but just nodded to each other. I don’t remember seeing him with beard before.

“‘He always had a bit of an attitude problem. I can’t say I really liked the man.’

“He added: ‘I saw him last year and he had a beard thing going on. We didn’t speak but just nodded to each other. I don’t remember seeing him with beard before.’ …

“One friend said: ‘His parents are in Libya at the moment, they seem to go backwards and forwards a lot. I’m shocked.

“‘It’s crazy to think he could do this, he didn’t show any outward signs of being radicalised.

“‘I had noticed him being a bit more religious perhaps of late, going to the mosque more to pray and walking his little brother to school, being a bit more responsible.’”

Meanwhile, other family members said the trips to Libya oftentimes included Abedi.

Again, the Daily Mail reported:

“A 16-year-old cousin of Abedi’s who lives near the family house said: ‘He went to Libya two months ago. We go every summer.

“‘I don’t really believe it [that he carried out the attack]. I know him and I know what type of person he is. He’s a nice guy, we play [war videogame] Battlefield on the PS4.’ …

“Neighbour Lina Ahmed, 21, said Abedi had been seen in the street chanting.

“‘They are a Libyan family and he has been acting strangely. A couple of months ago he [Abedi] was chanting the first kalma [Islamic prayer] really loudly in the street. He was chanting in Arabic.

“‘He was saying “There is only one God and the prophet Mohammed is his messenger.’”

Abedi killed 22 and injured at least 119 when he detonated a bomb during a Manchester concert held by Ariana Grande, and well attended by children, their parents and other adults.

His father, Ramadan Abedi, said to the Daily Mail from Tripoli: “We don’t believe in killing innocents. This is not us.”

He also said that his son, when they last spoke five days before the attack, seemed “normal.”