U.K. widens post-blast dragnet

Brother, father of Manchester arena bomber arrested in Libya

Religious leaders address the crowd Wednesday at a vigil at St. Ann’s Square in Manchester, England. The mosque attended by the suicide bomber denounced Monday’s attack in Manchester, and an official with the Manchester Islamic Center said, “This act of cowardice has no place in our religion, or any other religion.”
Religious leaders address the crowd Wednesday at a vigil at St. Ann’s Square in Manchester, England. The mosque attended by the suicide bomber denounced Monday’s attack in Manchester, and an official with the Manchester Islamic Center said, “This act of cowardice has no place in our religion, or any other religion.”

MANCHESTER, England -- The police chief leading the investigation into a suicide bombing that killed 22 people at a Manchester concert said Wednesday that the attacker did not act alone and that authorities were trying to unravel a wider web of plotters.

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AP/TIM IRELAND

A British soldier joins a police officer on patrol Wednesday in the Westminster area of London as part of increased security after the suicide bomb attack Monday in Manchester that left 22 people dead and scores wounded. Investigators, saying attacker Salman Abedi had not acted alone, were looking for a wider network of plotters. Abedi’s father was arrested Wednesday in Libya, a day after Abedi’s brother was taken into custody, and officials said five people were being held in Britain regarding the attack.

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AP/TIM IRELAND

A sign outside the Palace of Westminster in London announces the closing of the building to visitors on Wednesday because of the heightened national security threat in response to Monday’s Manchester bombing attack.

"It's very clear that this is a network we are investigating," said Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins.

The comments -- which came as British troops fanned out across London at prominent sites such as No. 10 Downing St. and Buckingham Palace -- confirmed what other senior British officials have hinted.

In Libya, meanwhile, an official said counterterrorism authorities have arrested at least two members of the family of the bomber, Salman Abedi, including a younger brother suspected of planning an attack in Libya's main city, Tripoli. The bomber was a British-born citizen whose parents emigrated from Libya.

Ahmed Dagdoug, spokesman for Libya's counterterrorism Reda Force, said Hashem Abedi was arrested Tuesday and is suspected of "planning to stage an attack in Tripoli." Abedi's father, Ramadan, was arrested Wednesday in Libya.

Dagdoug said Hashem Abedi was also in frequent contact with his brother Salman in Manchester and was aware of the plans to attack the Ariana Grande concert.

It was unclear whether Salman Abedi's family was a key part of the network planning the Manchester attack, but authorities are increasingly exploring the emerging connections between Britain and Libya.

In the United Kingdom, Hopkins said British police have taken at least five people into custody in connection with the attack since Monday night.

[INTERACTIVE: Timeline, map of attack]

Raids continued Wednesday in the U.K., including one in the heart of Manchester -- not far from the concert venue where Salman Abedi carried out the blast that claimed victims as young as 8 years old.

The U.K.'s domestic security chief, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, told the BBC that security services -- which had been aware of Salman Abedi "up to a point" before the bombing -- were focusing on his visits to Libya, at least one of which was recent.

Rudd's French counterpart, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, told broadcaster BFMTV that Salman Abedi may have also gone to Syria and had "proven" links with the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the Manchester blast and called Salman Abedi a "soldier."

Salman Abedi's father, Ramadan Abedi, said his son sounded "normal" when they last spoke five days ago. Before his arrest, the elder Abedi said by telephone from Tripoli that his son planned to visit Saudi Arabia and then spend the Islamic holy month of Ramadan with relatives in Libya.

"We don't believe in killing innocents," he said. "This is not us."

The local mosque where Salman Abedi's family worshiped -- and where Ramadan Abedi had once worked, issuing the call to prayer -- denounced the attack. Mosque officials also denied reports that the bomber had worked there.

"The horrific atrocity that occurred in Manchester on Monday night has shocked us all," said Fawzi Haffar, a trustee with the Manchester Islamic Center, also known as the Didsbury Mosque. "This act of cowardice has no place in our religion, or any other religion."

Salman Abedi was reported Wednesday to have been a college dropout who had recently become radicalized. Security experts said it was unlikely that he coordinated the attack, and the BBC reported that he may have been "a mule" who was tasked with carrying out the bombing but had little role in creating the explosive or choosing the target.

Of particular concern to British investigators was the possibility that the maker of the bomb was still at large and may be planning to strike again.

On Tuesday night, British Prime Minister Theresa May raised Britain's alert level from "severe" to its highest rating, "critical." The decision, she said, was "a proportionate and sensible response to the threat that our security experts judge we face."

The impact was quick and visible.

In London, nearly 1,000 soldiers were deployed onto the streets to help free up police. Soldiers were seen at prominent locations, including Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.

Hopkins said there were no plans to deploy troops in Manchester. But armed police officers were more visible than usual on the city's streets Wednesday, and Hopkins said the deployment of soldiers in the nation's capital would make more police available in other parts of the country.

The British Parliament announced that "due to the raised national security threat," all public tours of the Palace of Westminster would be stopped. The changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace -- a popular tourist attraction -- was also canceled.

Meanwhile, Grande's management team said the 23-year-old pop star has suspended her Dangerous Woman Tour through June 5, canceling this week's London performance as well as those in Belgium, Poland, Germany and Switzerland.

Information for this article was contributed by Souad Mekhennet, Isaac Stanley-Becker, James McAuley, Rick Noack, Paul Schemm, Devlin Barrett, Brian Murphy and Ellen Nakashima of The Washington Post.

A Section on 05/25/2017

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