The Manchester victims
- Saffie, aged 8
- Megan, aged around 11
- Eilidh, aged 14
- Sorrell, aged 14
- Nell, aged 14
- Olivia, aged 15
- Chloe, aged 17
- Georgina, aged 18
- Courtney, aged 19
- Liam, aged 19
- John, aged 28
- Martyn, aged 29
- Philip, aged 32
- Kelly, aged 32
- Michelle, aged 45
- Alison, aged 45
- Lees, aged 47
- Wendy, aged 50
- Jane, aged 51
- Elaine
- Angelika
- Marcin
They were for the most part children and parents of children. All targeting of innocents is vile, but this particular act seems to hit a new level of callous.
Kudos should go to those members of the Muslim community who tried to stop this. Stuff reports:
Two friends of Abedi also became so worried they separately telephoned the police counter-terrorism hotline five years ago and again last year.
“They had been worried that ‘he was supporting terrorism’ and had said that ‘being a suicide bomber was OK’,” a source told the BBC.
Akram Ramadan, 49, part of the close-knit Libyan community in south Manchester, said Abedi had been banned from Didsbury mosque after he had confronted the Imam who was delivering an anti-extremist sermon.
Ramadan said he understood that Abedi had been placed on a “watch list” because the mosque reported him to the authorities for his extremist views.
A well-placed source at Didsbury mosque confirmed it had contacted the Home Office’s Prevent anti-radicalisation programme as a result.
A US official also briefed that members of Abedi’s own family had contacted British police saying that he was “dangerous”, but again the information does not appear to have been acted upon.
It is good that he was reported my multiple people for his growing radicalisation. No doubt there will be a focus on whether he should have been placed under surveillance. He can’t be arrested just for saying things like being a suicide bomber is okay, but if he had been monitored they may have been able to stop him. On the other hand, you will never prevent every attack if someone is willing to kill others and die doing so.