Manchester: A British minister said Sunday members of suicide bomber Salman Abedi’s network could still be a large, as thousands defied the terror threat to take part in an annual half marathon.
As runners pounded the streets of the northwestern English city, police arrested a 25-year-old man in the eastern Old Trafford area, bringing the number now detained on UK soil in connection with the attack to 12.
Manchester-born Abedi, a 22-year-old of Libyan origin, killed 22 people on Monday when he targeted a pop concert by US teen idol Ariana Grande. A third of the those slaughtered were children and another 116 people were injured.
Asked by the BBC if some of Abedi’s network were still at large, British home secretary Amber Rudd said, “Potentially.”
“The operation is still really at full-tilt in a way and so until the operation is complete we can’t be entirely sure that it’s closed.” Authorities in Libya have detained Abedi’s brother and father, while British investigators appealed to the public late Saturday for details of the bomber’s movements in the days before the attack, which has been claimed by the ISIS.
