Anti-terror forces arrest 23-year-old man and raid suspected bomber's home

Heavily armed security forces have raided a series of addresses across the Manchester area in the wake of the deadly attack on the city's arena.

Police said they have raided homes in two residential areas in Manchester, one of which was occupied by suicide bomb suspect Salman Abedi, 22.

They carried out a controlled explosion at the house he was registered at in Fallowfield, south Manchester, around 12 hours after a bomb attack killed 22 people at a concert at Manchester Arena.

Amateur footage showed men dressed in black and khaki fatigues and balaclavas, and carrying automatic weapons walking around the residential estate where he lived.

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Members of the public gathered at the entrance to the estate at the junction of Elsmore Road and the A6010 Wilbraham Road reported hearing a large 'bang' at about 12.30pm.

Resident Neville Edwards, 32, said the explosion in Elsmore Road shook his mother's house in the next street and was heard a quarter of a mile away.

He said: "The couple that used to live there are an elderly couple but, from what I've been told by residents who live just adjacent, the property's been rented out for the last 12 to 18 months."

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Simon Turner, 46, described the raid, saying: "It was so quick, these cars just pulled up and all these police with guns, dogs, jumped out of the car and said to us 'get in the house now'."

He said the officers "did something" and "the next thing the door blew off the house".

He said "two young lads" live at the house in question, but that he knows very little about them.

Greater Manchester's Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said the controlled explosion had been carried out to gain entry to the house.

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The scene was about a mile away from a supermarket where officers reportedly held a 23-year-old man earlier on Tuesday.

Greater Manchester Police said in a statement: "With regards to the ongoing investigation into last night's horrific attack at the Manchester Arena, we can confirm we have arrested a 23-year-old man in South Manchester."

Nick Yates, who witnessed the arrest, told the Press Association he was leaving the Morrison's shopping centre in Chorlton, Manchester, when he saw the police.

"There was a black Mercedes van pulled up on the side of the road with six to eight police officers, all in plain clothes but wearing black caps with checkerboard marking," Mr Yates told the Press Association.

"Then as I crossed the road I saw a guy in handcuffs, sat on the floor against the wall."

After a minute or two a marked police van arrived at the scene on Wilbraham Road, said Mr Yates, at which point he left.

"I didn't get the impression that he looked overly concerned," he said of the handcuffed man.

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"I think he was an Asian guy but I couldn't be sure, and he looked quite young."

The inquiry, which police have described as "complex and wideranging", is understood to be focusing on examining whether the attacker, a British citizen of Libyan origin, was working with anyone else.

Other activity centred on a flat in a newly-built four-storey block of apartments in Carlton Street in Whalley Range, a mile from the south Manchester raid.

Student Mussab Amari was in bed when he was awoken by a loud bang around noon in Carlton Road

He said: "All I could see is everyone was armed and everywhere was surrounded.

"I asked the police officer... I said to him can I go back inside... and he said, 'No, for your own safety you have to stay outside'."

He said he didn't know who lived at the property.

Several police forces said they sent armed officers to Manchester to assist Greater Manchester Police with their operation.

Extra armed police are on UK streets amid a high state of alert following the attack.

The city's Arndale Centre was earlier evacuated, with people seen running away screaming and witnesses saying a man was detained by armed police.

Police said they do not think the arrest was related to the incident at Manchester Arena and the centre has now reopened.

Manchester United players arriving at the team's Carrington training ground have also had their cars searched.

Security staff used mirrors to check underneath vehicles and opened up the boots.

A "mix of armed and unarmed officers" were called up for the rush hour in London, with Met Police chief Cressida Dick saying they would "continue for as long as is needed".

The threat from international terrorism in the UK remains 'severe' - as it has been since August 2014 - meaning an attack is highly likely.