Salman Abedi: Alleged Manchester attacker’s father says son is innocent

The father of the alleged Manchester bomber has said his son is innocent, according to a report.

Ramadan Abedi is understood to have denied his son is linked to extremist militants or the suicide bombing that killed 22 people.

Mr Abedi said he spoke to his 22-year-old son, Salman Abedi, five days ago and he was getting ready to visit Saudi Arabia and sounded "normal”, Associated Press (AP) reported.

He said that his son visited Libya a month-and-a-half ago.

The elder Abedi, speaking to AP by telephone from Tripoli, said: "We don't believe in killing innocents. This is not us."

He said his other son, Ismael, was arrested on Tuesday morning.

A family friend told The Independent Abedi and his brother remained in the UK when their parents returned to Libya with the rest of the family four years ago but travelled back and forth to the war-torn country.

Mr Abedi, Salman's father, fled Tripoli in 1993 after Muammar Gaddafi's security authorities issued an arrest warrant and eventually sought political asylum in Britain.

He is now the administrative manager of the Central Security force in Tripoli.

Suspected suicide bomber Abedi was born in Britain to a Libyan family, grew up in Manchester's southern suburbs and once attended university there.