The father
of the bomber who killed 22 concert-goers in an attack in Manchester told
Reuters in the Libyan capital on Wednesday that he had last spoken to his son
some
five days ago, by phone, and "everything was normal."
Ramadan
Abedi, who was detained by a Tripoli counterterrorism force during the
interview, said his son Salman had told his family that he was heading on
pilgrimage to Mecca.
"I
spoke to him about five days ago ... there was nothing wrong, everything was
normal," Abedi said. He did not say where his son was at the time.
Another of
Abedi's sons, Hashem, was detained on Tuesday evening in Tripoli on suspicion
of links to Islamic State, said Ahmed Bin Salem, a spokesman for the Special
Deterrence Force, also known as Rada.
"We
have evidence that he is involved in Daesh (Islamic State) with his brother. We
have been following him for more than one month and a half," Bin Salem
said. "He was in contact with his brother and he knew about the
attack."
Rada said
Hashem, 20, had traveled from London to Tripoli on April 16.
British
interior minister Amber Rudd said earlier that the bomber had recently returned
from Libya. Her French counterpart Gerard Collomb said the man had links with
Islamic State and had probably visited Syria as well.
But Ramadan
Abedi said he was sure Salman had not been a member of the jihadist group.
"Salman
doesn't belong to any organization," he said. "The family is a bit
confused because Salman doesn't have this ideology, he doesn't hold these
beliefs."
"I
didn't expect that to happen, never," Abedi said, adding that he thought
there were "hidden hands" behind the attack.
"We
condemn these terrorist acts on civilians, innocent people," he said.
"DOGS"
Abedi also
said he was certain Salman had not been in Syria. "I checked his two
passports and there wasn't anything in them, he didn't travel to Syria,"
he said.
While
Reuters was interviewing Abedi, several unmarked vehicles carrying heavily
armed Rada forces drove up to the family home in the Tripoli suburb of Ayn Zara
and detained him.
Family
members shouted at the Rada men, calling them "dogs", as Abedi was
handcuffed and driven away.
Rada did not
give a reason for his arrest. Libyan media and bloggers reported alleged
connections between Abedi and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a
militant Islamist organization formed by Libyans who traveled to Afghanistan in
the 1980s to fight Soviet troops and later plotted to topple former Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi. A Facebook page that appears to belong to Abedi shows
links to several former LIFG members.
Some LIFG
members and supporters fled Libya in the 1990s to Britain and like Abedi
settled in Manchester, home to a large Libyan community. Abedi reportedly
returned to Libya in 2008.
"I
condemn anyone who says I belong to the LIFG, but I praise them," Abedi
said.
Rada is one
of the largest of the armed groups that have held power on the ground in
Tripoli since the 2011 uprising that overthrew Gaddafi.
Nominally
aligned with the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), it
has specialized in breaking up Islamic State cells in the Libyan capital.
REUTERS
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