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SALMAN ABEDI, THE suicide bomber who killed 22 people in an attack on a pop concert in Manchester, was a business student who dropped out of university.
Born to a devoutly Islamic Libyan family in Britain’s third largest city, newspapers said he was known to the security services and the Financial Times said he had turned to radical Islam in recent years.
22-year-old Abedi worshipped at a suburban mosque, where his father was a well-known face who sometimes performed the call to prayer.
He was named by police and Prime Minister Theresa May the day after the deadly attack, which also left dozens wounded, on the concert by US pop star Ariana Grande, who has a large teenage girl following.
“The perpetrator was Salman Ramadan Abedi, who was born and brought up in Britain,” May said, condemning his actions as “callous and cowardly”.
Suburban upbringing
Abedi’s family have lived in the Fallowfield area of south Manchester for at least 10 years, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Armed police raided an address in the modestly well-to-do area yesterday, carrying out a controlled explosion to gain entry.
Sky News / TwitterThe moment counter terrorism officers raid the #ManchesterAttack suspect's home, approaching from the side before blasting the door away pic.twitter.com/Oe1hkh2vE8
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 24, 2017
Amongst the items retrieved from the house was a pamphlet titled ‘Know Your Chemicals’.
A 23-year-old man was also arrested in the south of the city in connection with the attack.
Fallowfield resident Peter Jones, 53, described the area as “quiet and safe”.
Jones told AFP that he was “shocked” and “surprised” when he heard that the suspect was from there.
Media reports said Abedi’s parents fled Libya to escape the regime of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Around 16,000 Libyans live in Britain and Manchester is home to the largest community. It was a focus of celebrations when the Gaddafi regime fell in 2011.
Reports said the suicide bomber was the second youngest of four children, including another son and one daughter.
One member of Manchester’s Libyan community told The Guardian: “He was such a quiet boy, always very respectful towards me.”
His brother Ismael is outgoing, but Salman was very quiet. He is such an unlikely person to have done this.
Abedi had recently returned from Libya, according to the front page of The Times this morning, which cited a school friend as saying he left three weeks ago and returned in the last few days.
Police said they were urgently seeking to establish whether Abedi worked alone, or acted as part of a larger network.
Abedi’s family were closely linked to the Didsbury Mosque, a Victorian former Methodist chapel in a leafy suburb that was bought in 1967 by donors from the Syrian Arab community.
His father Ramadan had sometimes performed the call to prayer and his brother Ismael had been a volunteer.
One senior figure from the mosque however, Mohammed Saeed, told The Guardian that when he once gave a sermon denouncing terror, Abedi stared him down.
“Salman showed me a face of hate after that sermon,” Mohammed Saeed said of the 2015 encounter.
He was showing me hatred.
Unremarkable student
Abedi began studying business and management at Salford University in Manchester in 2014, a source told the Press Association news agency, but he dropped out after two years and did not complete his degree.
He did not live in university accommodation, had not been in any trouble at the university, was not on any radar for pastoral or social care and was not known to have participated in any university societies.
It is understood Abedi never met with the university’s resident imam.
Abedi used an improvised explosive device, apparently packed with metal, to massacre concertgoers and end his own life.
Citing CCTV footage recovered by detectives, The Times reported Abedi had placed the device in a suitcase which he set on the ground before it detonated.
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Fair play. She genuinely seems to be a caring person. Love her work for literacy too.
Don’t laugh now, but Dolly Parton is a true hero of our times. She is a remarkable woman at every level and has done huge amounts of charity work, invested millions in the impoverished local community she came from, has been influential in women’s rights and gsy rights and has written at least 2 all time classic songs.
@Connoroconner: it’s true! If you dig below the surface you quickly realise how remarkable she is.
@Aisling: there was a Sky tv show ‘Brian Johnstons Life on the Road’ which featured an extended interview with her. Brian, front man for AC/DC, and i think he was in love by the end of the show. It captures what a warm, beautiful person she is and shows what a great sense of humour she has too. Worth a watch if you can track it down.
@Connoroconner: I’m only going to disagree with you about the last part. Its way more than 2 all time classics. Huge Dolly fan here.
@Barry Vickers: well i also thinks it’s more, but for the general non country music fan, there are 2 they would know. That’s why I said at least 2!
Any sign of Bonio or Bob?
@MollyMsalone: Bono actually added to people’s misery by signing a song for them.
@MollyMsalone: Give Bob a break. He’s made mistakes, but he’s a righteous dude.
@Tordel Back: Hes a dose.
@MollyMsalone: leave him out of this…. We are suffering enough without listening to him!
@Damien: To be fair, he’s both a righteous dude and a dose simultaneously. First bit’s more important.
@Tordel Back: “self righteous “ dude you mean . Dolly Parton can sing intelligible songs and donate substantial money to help people . Bono/Geldoff do neither, but in their imagination think they were important to Ireland’s “ progress “ , God help us !
@MollyMsalone:
Bonzo and Boob more like.
I heard that Paddy Power is donating 1 Billion from the gambling profits:
The world has never deserved Dolly Parton. A truly decent person.
Working 9 to 5 for a way to make a vaccine
Thank you dolly, can u imagine if every millionaire and billionaires donated a mill each all over the world
Closer to home a huge thank you to a Conor MCGregor for his 1m donation to aid Irish hospitals in this crisis.
@New Remedy Europe: spot on . A lot of people knock connor . But he is a top man . Didn’t he give some kid 10 k who needed an operation recently ?
The world doesn’t deserve Dolly Parton!
Between her literacy program, giving financial assistance to those impacted by the Tennessee fires and now this (as well the other work through her foundation) the woman is a bonafide saint!
Wheres Bono , Geldof , JP McManus , Magnier , D.O.B ?????
Holed up in their caves counting their money
@Declan Cosgrave: are they doctors ?? Money is not an issue for governments so unless they are doctors we dont need anything from them
@Declan Cosgrave: McManus and Magnier have donated something like €80 million to charity in the last two years.
@Jono: “Money is not an issue for governments”
With a national debt of well over €200 billion, money is most certainly an issue for our government and for all of us who ultimately must pay such a colossal bill.
@Will: yeah if you class horse racing and GAA as charities. I’d prefer if they’d pay their taxes here.
@Connoroconner: McManus has a charitable fund he set up years ago to help with all sorts of good causes. There’s a website that goes into the details of it.
The money is used for healthcare, education, sport etc. Lots of small charities in McManus’s part of the country depend on it.
Fair enough, be nice if he paid his taxes here but ask yourself, if you, as a billionaire, could half your tax bill by moving residence would you still stand on principle?
@Will: yes I like to think I’d consider it the patriotic thing to do. How many billions does one person need? Michael O Leary and Bono, despite the abuse he gets, continue to pay their personal income taxes here when they could easily choose not to.
@Declan Cosgrave:
And Paddy Power too.
It’s good to see reports of millionaires ACTUALLY donating. Too often I see the journal blowing up the headline for a “pledge” or a “promise” or a “plan” than never happens. Like the Notre Dam fire, loads came out to pledge money, few really coughed up.
Not everyone wants to publicly announce their donations..food for thought
Good on her for the gesture but realistically money won’t solve this. Medics already have unlimited access to funds. Unfortunately it’s gonna take a lot of time.
What more good things can we say about Dolly Parton.
Bill Gates has enough millions. He doesn’t need Dolly’s.
BOB AND BONO are organising a fund raiser.
And people say she’s just a big pair of t-ts.
Working 9 to 5 (from home)
she has Hugh assets
And people say shes just a big pair of tits
Are her big pair of tits to named bob and bono?
have your say