British authorities on Tuesday identified the suicide bomber believed to have blown himself up outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, as 22-year-old Salman Abedi.
Greater Manchester police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins confirmed Abedi’s identity Tuesday but declined to comment further, citing the need for the coroner to confirm the identity.
Authorities said Abedi detonated a suicide bomb near one of the entrances to the Manchester Arena on Monday, just after an Ariana Grande concert wrapped up. The attack killed 22 people and injured 59 others, officials said.
Here’s what we know:
Abedi was a British man of Libyan origin who was born in 1994, Politico Europe reported. His parents were emigrants who settled in England and later moved back to Libya, The Telegraph reported. He was the second youngest of four children.
Police were warned about Abedi's "extreme and violent views" several years before Monday's deadly bombing, according to BBC News.
A Muslim community worker, who was not identified, told the news station that two people who knew Abedi from college called police separately to warn authorities that “he was supporting terrorism.”
The community worker told BBC News that the calls were made about five years ago after Abedi said, among other things, that “being a suicide bomber was OK.”
Police declined to comment on the claim.
Abedi's "links with ISIS are proven," France's Interior Minister said Wednesday, according to Politico Europe.
He traveled to Libya before Monday’s attack and had links with the Islamic State group, Politico Europe reported, citing French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.
"Today, we only know what British investigators have told us – someone of British nationality, of Libyan origin, who suddenly after a trip to Libya, then probably to Syria, becomes radicalized and decides to carry out this attack," Collomb told BFMTV.
Abedi lived at a home 3.5 miles from Manchester Arena, according to The New York Times. A law enforcement official told the newspaper that Abedi's ID was found at the scene of the bombing.
Police arrested two of Abedi's brothers and his father in the aftermath of the attack, according to multiple reports.
Anti-terrorism officials in Libya told The Associated Press that Abedi's father, Ramadan Abedi, was arrested Wednesday for interrogation. One of Salman Abedi's brothers, Hashim, was arrested Tuesday in Libya on suspicion of having links with the Islamic State group, according to BBC News. Another of Salman Abedi's brothers, Ismail, was arrested Tuesday in Manchester.
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