Britain has arrested a “large part” of the network behind Manchester’s suicide bomb attack, police said on Friday, while the British government came under fire for cutting police budgets as election campaigning resumed.
Nine suspects were in detention on UK soil in connection with the blast, for which the Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility. Police in Libya have detained the father and brother of 22-year-old bomber Salman Abedi.
Britain’s counter-terrorism police chief Mark Rowley said police had got hold of “a large part of the network” linked to the atrocity in which seven children aged under 18 were among the 22 dead.
Photo: AP
“We are very happy we’ve got our hands around some of the key players that we are concerned about, but there’s still a little bit more to do,” he said.
Police said the nine men in British custody ranged in age from 18 to 44, including a 30-year-old arrested in the Moss Side area of south Manchester early on Friday and a 44-year-old detained in nearby Rusholme later in the day.
“I woke up because I heard the police shouting, they were shouting ‘get down, it’s the police, hands on the ground, get on the ground,’” local resident Anita Santonelli said, adding that she saw about 10 armed police officers during the morning operation.
Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was the “responsibility” of governments to minimize the risk of terror by giving police the funding they need after cuts made while British Prime Minister Theresa May served as the home secretary.
Following Monday’s attack in which 116 people were also injured, May and Corbyn suspended campaigning for a snap June 8 election.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also visited London on Friday in an expression of solidarity after Britain reacted furiously to leaks of sensitive details about the investigation emanating from Washington.
“We take full responsibility for that and obviously regret that happened,” Tillerson told reporters.
Manchester police briefly suspended intelligence-sharing with the US over the leaks, but Tillerson said their “special relationship” would “withstand this particular unfortunate event.”
US President Donald Trump has threatened to prosecute those responsible for the “deeply troubling” security breach.
Monday’s bombing at a concert by US pop idol Ariana Grande was the latest in a series of IS-claimed attacks in Europe that have coincided with an offensive on the militant group in Syria and Iraq by US, British and other Western forces.
Dozens of IS fighters were killed on Friday in US strikes on Syria.
Britain’s terror threat assessment has been hiked to “critical,” the highest level, meaning an attack is considered imminent.
With the heightened security threat, Chelsea has canceled a parade scheduled for today in London to celebrate its Premier League football title, saying they thought it was “inappropriate to go ahead” following the bombing.
Arsenal, who were scheduled to face Chelsea in yesterday’s FA Cup final, have also said they would not hold a victory parade if they win at Wembley.
The issue of security, which was not widely discussed in the general election campaign before the attack, is now expected to feature highly.
A YouGov poll in The Times newspaper put the Conservatives on 43 percent compared with Labour on 38 percent, far better for Labour than the double-digit margin that had previously separated it from the governing party.
However, the poll also suggested that 41 percent of respondents believe the Conservatives would handle defense and security best, compared with 18 percent who said the same of Labour.
YouGov polled 2,052 people on Wednesday and Thursday.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in