Why DID they hide the truth on the Manchester bomber? Victims left angry after they were kept in the dark over the Royal Navy plucking terrorist from Libyan warzone
- Salman Abedi was one of 110 Britons rescued by the Royal Navy from Libya
- Security services had concerns about Abedi seven months before the rescue
- He was rescued from Libya by HMS Enterprise along with his brother Hashem
- Last night, MPs demanded to know how the security services lost track of Abedi
Salman Abedi was rescued from Libya by the Royal Navy before returning to the UK
Victims of the Manchester Arena attack last night demanded to know why the Royal Navy's rescue of the bomber from war-torn Libya was kept secret.
The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that HMS Enterprise plucked Salman Abedi, then 19, to safety as fighting intensified in August 2014.
He flew home to the UK, but less than three years later set off a shrapnel-filled suicide bomb at a pop concert in the city where he grew up – killing 22 people, including seven children.
An independent review of MI5 and counter-terrorism police's contact with Abedi was published in December.
But the report by former terror watchdog David Anderson QC made no mention of the fact that Abedi and his brother, Hashem, 21, were among 100 British citizens evacuated by the Navy survey ship.
Last night politicians, survivors and lawyers representing the families of those killed in the atrocity attacked the Government for keeping the public 'in the dark' about the rescue.
Salman Abedi, who attacked the Manchester arena was rescued from Libya onboard HMS Enterprise, pictured arriving in Valetta, Malta on August 4, 2014. Abedi was among 110 Britons - including his brother Hashem - rescued from the war zone by the Royal Navy
Video playing bottom right...
They also demanded to know why the Abedis – British-born sons of Libyan migrants – had been allowed to visit the Middle Eastern state without apparent scrutiny and subsequently fell off the security services' radar.
Robby Potter, 48, who almost died in the attack after shrapnel from the bomb punctured his heart, told the Mail: 'The authorities have definitely hidden this information from us. They haven't been honest.
'The Government should have told us straight away or it should have been in the reports. We have been left to find out through the Press.'
John Woodcock, the independent MP for Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, said: 'It is deeply concerning that the Royal Navy's role in extracting Salman Abedi has had to be uncovered by a media investigation rather than being volunteered by the British Government.
Robby Potter, pictured with his wife Leonora Ogerio. They were both wounded in the attack
'In particular, David Anderson QC needs to explain why he did not include this in his report into the Manchester bombing – was he kept in the dark or did he choose to hide it from the public?
'Either way, this undermines the important role he had as Britain's independent reviewer of terror legislation.
'I believe the Navy acted perfectly properly in rescuing these British citizens but unnecessary secrecy leaves the unfortunate impression that the Government has something it wants to hide.'
It is understood that the Ministry of Defence was the first Whitehall department to discover that Abedi had been rescued by the Royal Navy.
Abedi was already being monitored by the security services seven months before his rescue
His name emerged on passenger lists handed to the sailors on HMS Enterprise. The information was subsequently passed on to Number Ten, the Foreign Office and the Home Office.
Whitehall sources said that Abedi's rescue did not come to light in the Anderson report because it had no relevance to potential security failings.
But Elkan Abrahamson, a solicitor representing relatives of victims of the bombing for the forthcoming inquests, said: 'The trouble with the Anderson report is that we are not allowed to see the primary sources – that is, the MI5 or other security service documents.
'I am sure that the security services have not told us the full story. We may need an inquiry to get at the truth.'
He added: 'Both Abedi and his brother ought to have been tracked better, there are certainly concerns around that.'
The Daily Mail yesterday uncovered how Abedi was rescued by the Royal Navy from Libya
The Anderson report revealed that Abedi was already being monitored by the security services a full seven months before the rescue and that MI5 closed his file as a result of mistaken identify a month prior to his evacuation from Libya in 2014.
Senior security sources insist Abedi had not been radicalised at the time of the rescue and instead was brainwashed after watching bomb-making videos on the internet.
However, other sources have claimed that Abedi was seen on the front line, fighting alongside jihadis in Ajdabiya, eastern Libya. Survivors of the atrocity said it was difficult to understand why the Abedis were not detained or monitored following the rescue on their return to the UK.
NWN: The truth was and is still hidden but it's not too difficult to find out why ? Because it was THERESA MAY who was the then HOME SECRETARY who lifted their travel restrictions so that Abedi could join with the rest of the 'MANCHESTER BOYS' fighting in Libya for Al Qaida.
We ran the truth on here when it all happened. Even lefty journalist John Pilger went on the news and a video is also on Youtube.
The video is here;
