Manchester bombing victims demand to know why killer Salman Abedi’s Royal Navy rescue was kept secret
SURVIVORS of the Manchester Arena atrocity have called for answers after it was revealed the suicide bomber behind the attack was rescued by the Navy three years before he struck.
Those seriously injured in the pop concert slaughter have demanded to know why the dramatic rescue of Salman Abedi from war-torn Libya was kept under wraps by officials.
revealed yesterday that HMS Enterprise had plucked Abedi and his brother to safety as bloody battles tore through their parent's homeland.
The then 19-year-old was taken to Malta before being flown back to the UK - three years before he exploded a suicide bomb killing 22 people, including seven children.
An independent review of MI5 and counter-terrorism police's contact with Abedi was published in December but the report made no mention of the rescue, reveals the Mail. And now survivors want to know why.
Robby Potter, 48, who almost died in the attack when shrapnel tore into his heart, told the Mail: "The authorities have definitely hidden this information from us. They haven't been honest.
"The Government should have told us straight away or it should have been in the reports. We have been left to find out through the Press."
Robby and his wife Leonora Ogerio were standing in the foyer waiting for their children when Abedi detonated his home-made bomb as crowds left an Ariana Grande concert.
The Mail reports is understood that the Ministry of Defence was the first Whitehall department to discover that Abedi had been rescued by the Royal Navy.
Yesterday it was revealed the brothers were among around 110 British citizens taken to safety after being caught up in bloodshed.
A Whitehall source said: "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 the 2014 rescue the Abedi brothers were taken by the Navy to the safety of Malta, according to the paper.
The pair - the British-born sons of Libyan migrants - were then said to have been flown back to their home in Manchester.
It's reported they were on holiday in Libya visiting their family when fighting broke out in their parents' homeland.
British officials then offered to evacuate UK citizens and the Navy was tasked with the job. The brothers were said to be on a list provided to sailors.
However, security insiders told the Mail they believe Salman Abedi had not been radicalised at the time of the rescue operation saying he became brainwashed later after reading terror material on the internet.
A senior source told the Mail he was not seen as a threat at the time of his rescue.
Bomber Abedi detonated his shrapnel bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017 - killing 22 and maiming dozens more.
According to evidence presented at inquests, the detonation of the bomb killed people who were up to 20 metres away.
Witnesses told how nuts and bolts were sent flying in the blast as fans made their way to Manchester Victoria train station next door to the concert venue.
The killer student's identity was revealed after teams of armed cops swooped on his address in Fallowfield, Manchester.
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Minutes before setting off his rucksack bomb Salman phoned his nuclear scientist mum Samia and said: "Forgive me", Libyan security forces claim.
After initial suspicions of a terrorist network, police later said they believed Abedi had largely acted alone but that others had been aware of his plans.
The incident was the deadliest terrorist attack and the first suicide bombing in Britain since the 2005 London bombings.