2017 Manchester bombing

 2017 Manchester bombing (bombing,  mid-level deep event,  false flag?)

Manchester Arena: 21,000-seat auditorium
Date	22 May 2017
Location	Manchester,  England
Blamed on	Salman Abedi
Type	Suicide bombing
Deaths	22
Injured (non-fatal)	119
Interest of	Richard Hall
Description	A highly suspicious 2017 bombing in Manchester, UK, that reportedly killed 22 people and injured hundreds. Provided a pretext for suspending campaigning in the UK/2017 General Election

On 22 May 2017, a bombing at the Manchester Arena at the end of a concert by Ariana Grande killed 22 people and injuring 119. The BBC reported that "Salman Abedi was named by police as the suicide bomber shortly after the attack". Police were called to the scene of the bombing at 22:33 local time, along with medical personnel. The Islamic State reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. In March 2024, Iain Davis published The Manchester Arena False Flag about the event and about the persecution of Richard D. Hall.

Official narrative

The perpetrator was motivated by the deaths of Muslim children resulting from the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War. Carrying a large backpack, he detonated an improvised explosive device containing triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and nuts and bolts serving as shrapnel. After initial suspicions of a terrorist network, police later said they believed Abedi had largely acted alone, but that others had been aware of his plans. In 2020, Hashem Abedi was tried and convicted for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2020 with a minimum term of 55 years, the longest ever imposed by a British court. A public inquiry released in 2021 found that "more should have been done" by British police to stop the attack, while MI5 admitted it acted "too slowly" in dealing with Abedi.

Manchester Arena bombing: The missed opportunities to stop the attack

Campaigning suspended

Campaigning for the #GE2017 was suspended. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was a "terrible and traumatic time" and it was important to "come together".

Arrests

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi, with brothers Ismail and Hashem, and father Ramadan Abedi

Older brother Ismail Abedi, 23, was arrested in Chorlton on 23 May 2017, a day after the terror attack on Manchester Arena which killed 22 people including seven children. Two weeks later, a spokesman for Greater Manchester police said:

"A 23-year-old man, who was arrested in connection with the investigation into the attack at Manchester Arena has today, Monday 5 June 2017, been released without charge."

On 25 May 2017, the father and younger brother of suicide bomber Salman Abedi were arrested in Tripoli, according to a spokesman for the Special Deterrence Force, a Libyan "counter-terrorism" force. The father, Ramadan Abedi, was arrested outside his home in the Tripoli suburb of Ayn Zara on Wednesday afternoon. A witness said he was handcuffed by armed men who drove him away in two unmarked vehicles.

Hashem Abedi, younger brother of the suicide bomber, was also detained Tuesday evening on suspicion of links to Islamic State, spokesman Ahmed Bin Salem said. He did not give any details on the reasons why the father was arrested.

Hashem Abedi had been in touch with attacker Salman Abedi, Bin Salem said, and was suspected of planning to carry out an attack in the Libyan capital:

“We have evidence that he is involved in Daesh (Islamic State) with his brother. We have been following him for more than one month and a half. He was in contact with his brother and he knew about the attack.”

Bin Salem said the younger brother Hashem Abedi had travelled from London to Tripoli on 16 April 2017.

Salman Abedi, 22, was born in Britain to Libyan parents. Amber Rudd, Britain’s interior minister, said earlier that he had recently returned from Libya and had likely not acted alone. His father lives in Tripoli.

On 27 January 2020, Hashem Abedi went on trial at the Old Bailey and on 17 March 2020, a jury convicted him after less than five hours of deliberation. On 20 August 2020, the brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi was sentenced to at least 55 years in prison.

MI5 turns a blind eye

In an article dated 25 May 2017, the MailOnline reported:

• Former fighters including Libyan exiles and British-Libyan residents described how MI5 'sorted' their travel.
• British government is said to have adopted an 'open door' policy for fighters willing to travel to fight Gaddafi.
• Comes as Home Secretary Amber Rudd admitted authorities knew of the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi.
• Those who travelled fought alongside Islamic militants despite being subject travel bans for posing a threat.

MI6, Theresa May and the Manchester attac k

On 30 May 2017, Jonathan Cook published an article entitled MI6, Theresa May and the Manchester attack", which depicted the attack as blowback caused by MI6's support for the desctruction of Libya, and asked "Can we really trust the British security services to investigate their own behaviour? Does this episode not raise issues of vital national security? And who gave the approval for such a policy, one that was bound to radicalise at least some of Britain’s Libyan community and provide them with military training and experience they were certain to bring back to the UK?"

For more, check out these stories:

• 'Sorted' by MI5: How UK government sent British-Libyans to fight Gaddafi

• Why MI6 must share the blame for the jihadis in our midst

• Manchester bombing: media fail to probe intelligence-jihadi collusion under May's watch

• After the carnage of Manchester: A new matrix of terror

• Libya and the Manchester connection

Six months and counting

On 1 November 2017, the Daily Mail reported that Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, of Greater Manchester Police and head of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit (NWCTU) had a warrant for the arrest of Hashem Abedi:

"I can now say that, following a review of the evidence by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), we have applied for and been granted a warrant for the arrest of Hashem Abedi. The arrest warrant relates to the murder of 22 people, the attempted murder of others who were injured and conspiracy to cause an explosion.

"Hashem Abedi is currently detained in Libya and the CPS has now requested that Libyan authorities consider his extradition back to the United Kingdom. We are grateful for the Libyan authorities considering this request. You will appreciate that we must not do or say anything that might prejudice a fair trial and that this remains an ongoing investigation."

Russ Jackson said the warrant was issued by a judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court in the last fortnight, approved by Home Secretary Amber Rudd and the extradition request handed over to the authorities in Libya.

According to The Guardian, Hassan al-Houni, a spokesman for the internationally recognised government in Tripoli, said:

“An official request has been received through the Libyan ministry of foreign affairs and the Libyan authorities are cooperating to process it in accordance with Libyan legal procedures. No decision has been taken yet.”

Days after the Manchester bombing in May, the Special Deterrence Force (Rada), a counter-terrorism and anti-crime group aligned with Islamic extremist Abdelhakim Belhadj, arrested Hashem Abedi and the brothers’ father Ramadan Abedi. The father was released in August.

Response

The Independent reported that a victim of the 7/7 Bombings, only a few hours after the bombing "Tony Walter, 52, say he took his own life because he “didn’t want to live in a world where these terror attacks continue”... His friends claimed the most recent attack in Manchester, combined with the stabbing at Westminster in March, triggered traumatic memories."

Public inquiry

Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi radicalised by NATO-trained terrorist - inquiry

The emergency services were criticised.

The youngest victim had "un-survivable injuries".

 

Related Quotation

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Hanif Qadir	“I could have prevented [the 2017?] London terrorist attacks”	Hanif Qadir	2017

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Importing Jihadi Terror to the UK – Cui Bono	blog post	25 September 2018	Craig Murray	Importing the White Helmets into the UK is obviously nuts if your purpose is to minimise jihadi activity in the UK
Document:MI6, Theresa May and the Manchester attack	Article	30 May 2017	Jonathan Cook	And so the story of MI6 and Theresa May, their sponsorship of Islamic jihadism, and the likely “blowback” the UK just experienced in Manchester is a sleeping dog no one seems willing to disturb.
Document:Manchester Alleged Suicide Bomber Linked to Libya Islamic Fighting Group	Article	24 May 2017	'Tony Cartalucci'	The British government is directly responsible for the Manchester Arena bombing. It had foreknowledge of LIFG’s existence and likely its activities within British territory and not only failed to act, but appears to have actively harboured this community of extremists for its own geopolitical and domestic agenda.
Document:Manchester atrocity: UK government must come clean about its relationship with Libyan Islamists	Article	6 June 2017	Mohamed El-Doufani	The perpetrator of the Manchester atrocity, British-born Libyan Salman al-Abedi, 22, is largely the product of the policy pursued by successive British governments – Conservative and Labour – towards Libya.
Document:Theresa May pushing for UK intervention in Syria following Manchester attack	Article	25 May 2017	Whitney Webb	Jeremy Corbyn Says What We All Knew: The War On Terror Isn’t Working
Document:Theresa May's personal role in facilitating terror attacks	video	5 June 2017	Dan Glazebrook	Theresa May and her Cabinet are complicit in murder. They are war criminals. If the principles established by the Nuremberg Tribunal after World War II were applied, they would be hung.

 

The Official Culprit

Name
Salman Abedi

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.