Authorities have revealed the name of the bloodthirsty Islamic killer that killed scores of young girls at a pop concert Monday.
Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old son of Libyan refugees, grew up to be nothing more than an “evil loser” — and the search for his terrorist cell friends has begun to heat up.
Investigators hunted Tuesday for possible accomplices of Abedi, who killed young girls at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. Abedi’s cowardly attack killed 22 people and a sparked a stampede of young concertgoers, some still wearing the American pop star’s trademark kitten ears and clutching pink balloons.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Monday night carnage, which also left 59 people wounded. British police raided two sites in the northern English city and arrested a 23-year-old man at a third location.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and police said the bomber died in the attack on Manchester Arena — something that went unmentioned in the Islamic State claim, which also had discrepancies with the events described by British officials.
Manchester police chief Ian Hopkins identified the bombing suspect as Abedi but gave no other details. British election rolls listed Abedi as living at a modest red brick semi-detached house in a mixed suburb of Manchester where police performed a controlled explosion Tuesday afternoon.
Neighbor Natalie Daley said she was frightened by a loud bang, then police yelling, “Get in your houses – get away from the windows!”
“When it’s like two seconds from your house, when you walk past it every day, you do live in fear,” Daley said.
Manchester, 160 miles northwest of London, is one of Britain’s largest cities and Manchester Arena is one of the world’s largest indoor concert venues.
Campaigning for Britain’s June 8 national election was suspended in the aftermath of the attack, the deadliest in Britain since four suicide bombers killed 52 London commuters on subway trains and a bus in July 2005.
According to The Telegraph, Albedi was “born in Manchester in 1994, the second youngest of four children, his parents were Libyan refugees who came to the UK to escape the Gaddafi regime. His parents were both born in Libya but appear to have emigrated to London before moving to the Fallowfield area of south Manchester where they have lived for at least ten years.”
The attack sparked a nightlong search for loved-ones – parents for the children they had accompanied or had been waiting to pick up, and friends for each other after groups were scattered by the blast. Twitter and Facebook lit up with heartbreaking appeals for the missing.
An 8-year-old girl was among the dead – the youngest known victim – and her mother and sister were among the wounded in what May called “a callous terrorist attack.” The wounded included 12 children under age 16, hospital officials said.
“I extend my deepest condolences to those so terribly injured… and to the so many families of the victims. We stand in absolute solidarity with the people of the United Kingdom,” President Donald Trump said Tuesday, speaking from the city of Bethlehem. “So many young beautiful and innocent people living and enjoying their lives, murdered… by evil losers in life.”
“This wicked ideology must be obliterated. And I mean completely obliterated,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article