British spy agency concludes terror attack at Manchester Arena could have been prevented
The perpetrator of the Manchester Arena bombing had been on British spy agency MI5's radar for years, The Telegraph reported Friday. An internal review of British law enforcement discovered that Salman Abedi, the 22-year-old suicide bomber who killed 22 people when he detonated explosives at the concert venue in May, accidentally became a "subject of interest" for MI5 in a case of mistaken identity in 2014.
Abedi was apparently enough of a concern, however, that his case was going to be up for reconsideration at a meeting scheduled for May 31 — just nine days after he carried out his attack.
MI5 had twice decided that pieces of intelligence received on Abedi were not related to terrorism, and his case was closed. But he eventually reappeared on the agency's radar as someone who "merited further examination," The Telegraph reports. The internal review, mandated by Home Secretary Amber Rudd, deemed MI5's decision not to reopen an investigation on Abedi "reasonable," but said the Manchester attack could have been preventable "had the cards fallen differently."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The review also revealed that two of perpetrators of other attacks in the U.K. — the Westminster Bridge attack in March and the London Bridge attack in June — were previously known to MI5. Khurram Butt, one of the London Bridge attackers, was the "principal subject" of an investigation, but MI5 apparently decided that he was more interested in fighting in the Middle East on the behalf of the Islamic State than in attacking the homeland.
Read more at The Telegraph.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
-
How the Nobel Peace Prize is chosen
The Explainer This year's prize has gone to survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 5 - 11 October
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By The Week Staff Published
-
'Picking up the pieces'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homes
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creature
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published