Manchester bomber known to authorities: minister

The bomber, Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old British citizen who grew up around Manchester, died in the attack.

Before that, he said, a number of different families had been living at the property.

Cheshire Police declined to comment and referred inquiries to Greater Manchester Police.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd condemned United States officials she said had risked the “operational integrity” of the ongoing investigation into Monday night’s Manchester, England, terrorist attack after they leaked confidential details to the U.S. media before they had been confirmed by the British police.

They were detained after police executed warrants in south Manchester.

Manchester police arrested five men and one woman on Wednesday, bringing the total held for questioning to seven, and searched multiple addresses in northern and central England.

Soldiers at a Ministry of Defence building.

British police arrested four more suspects in Manchester on Wednesday as they investigated “a network” of people allegedly behind the bombing at an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people Monday.

The Manchester explosion was one the deadliest since the 2005 London subway bombings that claimed the lives of 56 people.

The official threat level was raised late on Tuesday to its highest level, “critical”, meaning an attack is expected imminently.

Police said they responded to reports of an explosion shortly after 10:35 p.m.at the arena, which has a capacity for 21,000 people, and where the USA singer had been performing to an audience that included many children. More armed police will be on patrol to guard high-profile soccer and rugby matches at Wembley and Twickenham stadiums in the capital in the coming days. Several media outlets, citing British officials, have stated that the bomb used at the concert was much more sophisticated than those generally employed in lone-wolf attacks.

Soldiers were replacing armed police on Wednesday at sites like Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street and Parliament. She attended the concert with her mother and older sister, who were both injured.

The head of the U.K.’s National Counter Terrorism Policing unit, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, says that using military troops “is part of an agreed and well-rehearsed plan and military personnel will remain under the command and control of the police service”.

British Prime Minister Theresa May Wednesday chaired a meeting of her emergency security cabinet group known as Cobra to deal with the intelligence reports about Abedi and concerns that he might have had outside support.

When Mr Collomb was asked whether there was a terrorist network, he replied: “We don’t know yet (if there’s a network). In any case, (he had) links with Daesh (Islamic State) that are proven”.

Britain’s interior minister said earlier that he had recently returned from Libya and had likely not acted alone.

“It seems likely, possible, that he (Abedi) wasn’t doing this on his own”, Rudd told BBC radio. The youngest victim was 8-year-old Saffie Roussos.