British spooks swoop to nail two suspected jihadis ‘who were part of the Manchester Arena terror attack cell’

A PAIR of jihadi suspects linked to the Manchester bomb network have been charged by cops.

Ahmed Halane and Nur Hassan, both 24, are set to face trial on terror charges after an operation involving British intelligence services.

Halane, the brother of Brit terror twins Zahra and Salma, and Hassan were close pals with the network of jihadis around Manchester Arena bomb Salman Abedi including Raphel Hostey and Raymond Matimba.

Finnish national Hassan, who fled Manchester for Syria to allegedly join Islamic State in 2013 with his wife, returned in 2015 but was barred from re-entering the UK.

He and Halane settled in Denmark but British spies have helped bring charges against the jihadi suspects - who will now face trial in the Scandinavian nation.

Hassan, who was previously thought to have died in Syria, has been charged with joining Islamic State in Syria between 2013 and 2015 while Halane is on trial for joining Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Hassan's wife Iimaan Ismail - a Cambridge-educated school teacher - has been allowed back into the country after reportedly travelling to Syria with her Danish national husband and is living with her family in Manchester.

Hiding under a headscarf, Ismail refused to speak to The Sun at her terraced house in Gorton, Manchester.

Her mother said: "She hasn't spoken to him recently. He's abroad - she doesn't have any contact with him."

Ismail then slammed the door stopping her mum speaking.

Nur's stepmum Fatima Ali said: "I saw Ismail about a month ago. She knows Nur has been arrested in Denmark.

"Ismail told me that she was questioned for a long time at Manchester airport about Nur and what he was doing in Syria.

"She claimed it was to learn Arabic which is ridiculous.

"Nur has been arrested in Denmark in the last few months over terrorism."

Earlier this month the head of MI5 Andrew Parker said the UK was facing the worst terror threat ever.

He said 20 plots had been thwarted in the last four years and there had been 12 arrests in Europe through international co-operation - thought to include Hassan and Halane.

They have both been held in custody in Denmark following their arrests.

Halane had been a preacher who won competitions for his reciting of the Koran before he travelled to Somalia.

He was close friends with IS recruiter Hostey who was thought to be responsible for hundreds of jihadists and women travelling to Syria.

Hostey prayed at the same Didsbury mosque in Manchester as Abedi and was thought to have been killed last year by a drone strike in Syria aged 24.

Abedi, who lived close by to Hostey, Halane and Hassan went on to build a nail bomb killing 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in May.

Halane's sisters Zahra and Salma, who fled their homes in 2014 to join IS in Syria aged 16, were last thought to be living in the jihadi capital of Raqqa after their Brit husbands were killed by coalition forces.

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