MI5 'warned about Manchester bomber by his own family'

British authorities were warned about the Manchester bomber by his own family, one of his relatives has claimed.

Salman Abedi was allegedly reported over his support for terrorism, which included him saying that being a suicide bomber was “OK”.

He was apparently reported to MI5 as late as this year, while college friends had also called anti-terror hotlines five years ago to air their concerns about him, according to the relative.

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, based in Greater Manchester, told The Daily Telegraph: “People in the community expressed concerns about the way this man was behaving and reported it in the right way using the right channels.

“They did not hear anything since.”

Abedi, 22, set off a nail bomb at Manchester Arena, killing 22 people including several children.

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His actions resulted in the terror threat being raised from severe to critical, meaning armed troops were sent out to patrol the streets alongside police officers.

Raids have been carried out in Manchester as authorities attempt to find any accomplices or links to a wider terror cell.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said this morning that they had arrested two further men in connection with Monday’s incident, bringing the total arrested to eight.

Abedi’s brother Hashem, 20, and father, Ramadan, 51, have been arrested in Libya.

A woman that was arrested on Monday has since been released without charge.

Speaking about a Abedi’s possible connections to a terror cell, Ian Hopkins, chief constable of GMP, said: “I think it’s very clear that this is a network that we are investigating.”

Abedi, who dropped out of university in Salford, had been living with his family in Libya.

It has emerged that he was in Dusseldorf in Germany four days before the attack, where he may have made contact with jihadi extremists.

Authorities are now trying to piece together his movements, and whether he received training at a jihadist camp while he was in Libya.