Manchester bomber passed through Dusseldorf four days before the attack, German media reports

Salman Abedi, the Manchester bomber, reportedly passed through Germany four days before the attack.

Abedi transited through Düsseldorf airport on his way home to Manchester from Istanbul last Thursday, according to police sources.

German authorities are urgently checking whether Abedi met with anyone in Germany, the usually well informed Focus magazine quoted unnamed “security sources” as saying.

Police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia told the BBC he is not believed to have leaved the airport transit area.

Security services are particularly concerned to learn whether he may have had any contact with any radical Islamists in Germany. 

It was the second time Abedi had passed through Germany. Airport records show that he previously flew from Frankfurt to the UK in 2015.

It is thought he may have been on his way back from Syria on that occasion. Scotland Yard has told German colleagues that Abedi trained with jihadists in Syria, according to Focus.

“The scene is closely intertwined internationally,” an unnamed senior officer in Germany’s equivalent of CID told the magazine. “We need to clarify whether Abedi met people in Germany he had previously met with in Syria.”

Düsseldorf, which Abedi transited through last week, has an active extremist scenes. Anis Amri, the Berlin Christmas market attacker, was in contact with radical Islamic preachers from the surrounding state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Abedi’s name was not on any international terror alerts or watch lists, and he was not monitored during his brief stopover.