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Eleven arrests as police unravel terror cell behind Manchester attack

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Sat, 27 May 2017, 9:52AM
Armed police patrol as members of the public queue to lay flowers in St Ann's Square in memory of those who lost their lives in the Manchester Arena attack. (Getty)
Armed police patrol as members of the public queue to lay flowers in St Ann's Square in memory of those who lost their lives in the Manchester Arena attack. (Getty)

Eleven arrests as police unravel terror cell behind Manchester attack

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Sat, 27 May 2017, 9:52AM

The suicide bomber who attacked a concert arena in Manchester, Salman Abedi, spoke to his brother in Libya only 15 minutes before the blast, CNN reports.

Police in Britain are still holding nine of the 11 people they've arrested and believe they've now found most members of the terror cell behind this week's attack.

The head of Britain's counter terror unit has told media the investigation is going well, but counter-terror chief Mark Rowley admits there are still many details to fill in.

"We've got to understand everything around the dead terrorist, the network and how they manufactured the explosive device. Enormous progress has been made," he said.

"We've got to chase this down to make sure we can remove the risk of any recurrence, so to do that we've got to understand what went on and get our hands around these dangerous people."

MORE: Manchester attacker couldn't have acted alone - counter terrorism expert

CNN's Atika Shubert reports links back to Islamic State are being investigated.

"It's likely that he was in Syria and received training there, but we don't know - if that happened - when that happened. Possibly in the months before the attack.

Around 12 properties are still being searched for evidence in the Manchester area.

Former UK counter-terror minister Alan West admits he's surprised such a big network could have gone undetected.

"Now it's clearly unraveling and it is quite a big deal, and [for the UK's threat level] to have gone to critical and kept at critical there must be information saying that something is likely to happen."

READ MORE: Ariana Grande to perform Manchester benefit show

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