The father of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber said on Wednesday his son was innocent – shortly before being arrested himself in the Libyan capital.
Ramadan Abedi, who lives in Tripoli, said he spoke to his 22-year-old son, Salman Abedi, five days ago and that he sounded “normal”.
He added that his son had been getting ready to visit Saudi Arabia before travelling to Libya to spend Ramadan with family and denied he had any links to militants.
“We don’t believe in killing innocents. This is not us,” Mr Abedi said, adding that Salman last visited Libya a month-and-a-half ago.
Later in the day, a counterterrorism force in Tripoli said it had arrested Mr Abedi. It came just hours after the same force, known as Rada, said it had arrested Mr Abedi’s youngest son, Hisham, on Tuesday evening.
Rada said Hisham “was aware of all the details” of his brother Salman’s plan to attack the Manchester Arena, and said he was suspected of having links with ISIL.
Earlier in the day, Ramadan Abedi had confirmed that another of his sons, Ismail, 23, had been arrested in England on Tuesday morning.
Greater Manchester police said four other people were arrested on Wednesday in connection with Monday night’s attack. One, who was arrested in the town of Wigan, 27 kilometres to the west of Manchester, had been carrying a package that was being “assessed”.
Born in Manchester in 1994, Salman Abedi was the third of four children to his parents, Ramadan and Samia Abedi, who fled Libya’s late dictator Muammar Qaddafi to settle in Britain in 1992.
Libyan sources say the name Abedi is a variation of Obeidi – the name of one of the country’s largest tribes, located mostly in the east of the country.
Residents in Manchester say Mrs Abedi is with her husband in Libya, together with Hisham, 20, and the couple’s daughter, Jomana, 18. Mr Abedi had been working in Tripoli as the administrative manager for the main militia in the city.
France’s interior minister, Gerard Collomb, said on Wednesday that Salman Abedi was believed to have recently travelled to Syria from Libya and had “proven” links with ISIL.
Police are also investigating whether ISIL recruiters are operating in Manchester.
Twin sisters Zahra and Salma Halane, who left to join ISIL in Syria in 2015, attended the city’s Whalley Range school, which Abedi’s sister, Jomana, also attended.
Last year, former British foreign secretary Philip Hammond said more than 1,500 Britons had tried to get to Syria and Iraq to join ISIL. He said 800 of them succeeded but that Britain stopped another 600 would-be recruits from reaching their destinations. Some of the 800 have returned to the UK, disenchanted with life under ISIL control.
The number of ISIL recruits and potential recruits, many lured by campaigns on social media, has created a headache for British security forces trying to keep track of possible terror suspects.
Reports say Abedi was known to authorities, but considered a peripheral figure.
His Libyan ancestry has focused attention on the continuing presence of ISIL in the North African country.
Libya is ISIL’s main base in North Africa, with units originally moving from its forces in Syria and Iraq. The group has lost ground in recent months having failed to gain mass support in Libya’s tribal-based society, but has attracted several thousand foreign fighters.
* With reporting by Associated Press and Reuters
