Britain’s most wanted terrorist and part of ISIS ‘Beatles’ gang was in contact with Manchester Arena bomber in lead up to attack and ‘wanted his home city bombed’
Raymond Matimba was in contact with suicide bomber Salman Abedi in the run up to the attack and is now considered the UK's most-wanted terrorist
AN ISIS fighter from Manchester could have been key to ordering this year's terror attack on his home city, it has emerged.
Raymond Matimba was in contact with suicide bomber Salman Abedi in the run up to the atrocity.
And he had urged attacks on the city in the past, claims.
A source told the paper: “He said [to the group] that he hated his city, that he wanted it to be bombed.”
Previously off the radar, Zimbabwe-born Matimba is now considered Britain's most-wanted terrorist.
The 28-year-old appeared in 2014 footage with the so-called Beatles terror cell in ISIS capital Raqqa - alongside Brit butcher Jihadi John.
Matimba was also known to be an accurate sniper and trained would-be jihadis in marksmanship.
But his most deadly role could have been in the radicalisation of Abedi - who carried out the Manchester Arena attack that killed 22 following an Ariana Grande concert.
The pair attended the same college and met at a South Manchester mosque before heading to the Middle East.
New revelations about Matimba's role in the attack come as footage emerged for the first time of the 'Beatles' together in war-torn Syria.
The four Brit men men are seen chatting amongst themselves as they charge their phones while their assault rifles lean against nearby walls.
It features notorious ISIS hacker Junaid Hussain, from Birmingham and executioner, Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John after he was filmed beheading captives.
The two other Brits seen in the footage are Cardiff-born recruiter Reyaad Khan and Matimba, from Manchester, the paper reported.
Junaid Hussain was killed in 2015 in a US drone attack, after leaving an ISIS stronghold in Raqqa without his 11-year-old child as cover.
A court in the US heard that Hussain had used social media messages to convince people to become involved in terror plots, with a US court describing one such plan "one of the most significant plots by ISIS to perform a homeland attack".
Emwazi, from London, was killed in a US air strike in November 2015.
He shocked the world when he appeared in a video in August 2014 in which he condemned the West and appeared to behead US journalist James Foley.
The Brit butcher emerged again in a number of other videos released by ISIS, including those in which American reporter Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning were murdered.
In August 2015, Khan had the dubious honour of being the first Brit ever killed by an RAF drone strike.
The Cardiff-born terrorist, who died aged 21, was said to pose a "a significant, ongoing and imminent threat to the UK".
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