Utter betrayal: Royal Navy RESCUED Manchester bomber from Libya 3 years before atrocity
THE Manchester bomber was rescued by the Royal Navy from war-torn Libya three years before he killed 22 people at a pop concert.
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Salman Abedi detonated a home-made suicide vest in Manchester Arena as Ariana Grande fans left the venue on May 22, last year, killing 22 people, including seven children.
And now it has emerged that when Abedi was 19 he was evacuated from Tripoli by HMS Enterprise in August 2014 with his younger brother, Hashem.
The pair, born and bred in the UK, were among more than 100 other British citizens taken to safety from the civil war in Libya.
It is understood Abedi’s name was on a list of stranded citizens handed to the crew in charge of the evacuation from the country's troubled coast.
The Navy vessel took Salman and Hashem, then respectively 19 and 16, to Malta before they caught a flight back to Britain.
Photographs released by Ministry of Defence officials at the time showed the group being brought on board the military vessel.
A government spokesman said: “During the deteriorating security situation in Libya In 2014, Border Force officials were deployed to assist with the evacuation of British nationals and their dependants.”
Abedi was known to security services and monitored for a month before he travelled to Libya.
For this man to have committed such an atrocity on UK soil after we rescued him from Libya was an act of utter betrayal
But his case was closed a month before his rescue as a result of mistaken identity.
A Whitehall source said told the Daily Mail: “For this man to have committed such an atrocity on UK soil after we rescued him from Libya was an act of utter betrayal.”
After being dropped off in Malta, Abedi and his brother flew back to Manchester.
Abedi went on to study business management at Salford University before dropping out at the age of 22.
Abedi is believed to have travelled to Syria and become radicalised before returning to the UK to cause carnage at a gig in the city where he was born.
He is thought to have come back to Britain from Libya just days before the massacre.