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Britain’s home intelligence company didn’t act swiftly sufficient on key data and missed a major alternative to stop the suicide bombing that killed 22 individuals at a 2017 Ariana Grande live performance in northwest England, an inquiry discovered Thursday.
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Retired choose John Saunders, who led the inquiry into the Manchester Arena assault, mentioned that one MI5 officer admitted they thought-about intelligence about suicide bomber Salman Abedi to be a doable nationwide safety concern, however didn’t talk about it with colleagues shortly sufficient.
“I have found a significant missed opportunity to take action that might have prevented the attack,” he mentioned.
Abedi, 22, set off a knapsack bomb within the area’s lobby on the finish of the May 22, 2017 live performance, as hundreds of younger followers, together with youngsters, had been leaving the pop star’s present. Abedi died within the explosion.
His brother, Hashem Abedi, was convicted in 2020 of serving to to plan and perform the assault. He was sentenced to life in jail.
Saunders mentioned had the MI5 acted on the intelligence it acquired, it may have led to Abedi being stopped at Manchester Airport on his return from Libya simply 4 days earlier than the assault.
Richard Scorer, a lawyer representing 11 of the bereaved households, mentioned the report was a “devastating conclusion for us.”
“It is now very clear that there was a failure to properly assess key intelligence about Salman Abedi; a failure to put it into proper context, and _ most catastrophic of all _ a delay in acting on it,” Scorer mentioned. “The failures exposed in this report are unacceptable.”
Multiple MI5 witnesses gave proof behind closed doorways to the inquiry and the intelligence wasn’t publicly disclosed.
Abedi had been a “subject of interest” to MI5 officers in 2014, however his case was closed shortly after as a result of he was deemed to be low-risk.
Saunders additionally mentioned that authorities did not refer Abedi to the federal government’s counterterrorism program, referred to as Prevent.
“I have concluded that there was at least a period during Salman Abedi’s journey to violent extremism when he should have been referred,” he mentioned.
Thursday’s report was the third and ultimate one into the assault. Saunders beforehand criticized the sector’s safety employees and native police for failing to determine Abedi as a menace. He has additionally slammed delays and failings within the response of emergency providers on the night time of the bombing.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
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