Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi was among ‘20,000 people known to MI5 but not one of 3,000 under investigation’
Brit-born Muslim was reported at least three times to the authorities over his extremist views
MANCHESTER bomber Salman Abedi was among 20,000 extremists known to MI5 but was not one of the 3,000 under investigation, reports have claimed.
In the wake of the attack on Manchester Arena, it emerged that security services were grappling with 500 investigations into 3,000 radicals.
Security sources later confirmed that a further 20,000 were said to have been considered "subjects of interest" in the past.
It means as many as 23,000 people have appeared on the radar of counter-terror agencies, although the period the figures cover is unclear.
And the 22-year-old bomber was one of this larger group, according to the .
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MI5 has now launched urgent inquiries into whether it missed key warning signs about the danger posed by Abedi.
The domestic security service is said to be investigating if there were any errors made in the handling of intelligence about the bomber.
Spy chiefs are believed to have held an emergency review in the days after the atrocity, while a separate in-depth inquiry is being conducted to look at the decision-making surrounding his case before the massacre, the Guardian reports.
A senior Whitehall source previously revealed the mass murderer was a "former subject of interest" to the security services whose risk "remained subject to review".
A number of people who knew Abedi – including family members – reportedly warned authorities he was developing radical views.
Earlier this year, the FBI warned UK security chiefs the Libyan-born Islamist was planning an attack on British soil, according to the .
Abedi’s father Ramadan and brother Hashim have been detained in Libya since the attack, while another brother, Ismail, was arrested in Manchester on Tuesday.
Before his arrest, Ramadan Abedi rejected claims he was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, but added that he supports the banned organisation with links to al-Qaeda.
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In the translated interview shown on the BBC, he protested his son's innocence, saying: "I'm sure that Salman didn't carry out such an act."
But the killer's sister said she believed her brother may have been reacting to US-led strikes in the Middle East.
Abedi travelled through Istanbul in Turkey and Dusseldorf in Germany in the days before the attack, a Turkish official said.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has already confirmed he had recently returned to the UK after a visit to Libya.
Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Ms Rudd said: "The intelligence services are still collecting information about him and about the people around him.
"But I would not rush to conclusions, as you seem to be, that they have somehow missed something."
The French interior minister said Abedi had "most likely" been in Syria, but there is reportedly no record of him entering the war-torn country.
Ramadan Abedi said his son had seemed "normal" when he spoke to him five days before the atrocity.
But Jamal Zubia, a member of Manchester's Libyan community, told The Times the parents were so concerned about their son's apparent descent into extremism that they took his passport.
Abedi convinced them to return it, claiming he wanted to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, Mr Zubia said.