A public inquiry into bombing that took place outside a 2017 Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester (now AO) Arena has revealed a "significant opportunity" missed to prevent the terror attack, had British security service MI5 acted quickly enough on key intelligence.
The 207-page final report on the UK government's inquiry into the suicide bombing, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds, found a "realistic probability" that bomber Salman Abedi could have been stopped [via Billboard]. In the months leading up to the attack, MI5 apaprently received two pieces of intelligence — the significance of which was "not fully appreciated at the time," according to inquiry chair John Saunders.
Published yesterday (March 2), the report does not disclose details surrounding either piece of intelligence for national security reasons, but it claims that MI5 shared neither with counter-terror police. An MI5 officer identified as Witness C failed to write a report on the second piece of intelligence on the same day the agency assessed it. They also did not discuss it with their colleagues, a delay that led to failure to "take a potentially important investigative action."
Abedi flew into Manchester from Libya on May 18, 2017 — four days before the sold-out concert, where he detonated a homemade explosive device in the foyer at the end of the show. Had the intelligence been taken more seriously, the report maintains that the bomber could have been stopped at the airport and followed to his car, where the explosives were stored.
Saunders summarized in yesterday's press conference that the "failure by the security service to act swiftly enough" contributed to a "significant missed opportunity to take action that might have prevented the attack."
Abedi's family was also deemed "significantly" responsible for radicalizing him and his brother Hashem, who was sentenced to a minimum of 55 years in prison in the UK in 2020 for his involvement in the atrocity. Meanwhile, families of the bombing victims called MI5's "unacceptable" failures a "devastating conclusion" to the three-part inquiry, launched in October 2019.
The 207-page final report on the UK government's inquiry into the suicide bombing, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds, found a "realistic probability" that bomber Salman Abedi could have been stopped [via Billboard]. In the months leading up to the attack, MI5 apaprently received two pieces of intelligence — the significance of which was "not fully appreciated at the time," according to inquiry chair John Saunders.
Published yesterday (March 2), the report does not disclose details surrounding either piece of intelligence for national security reasons, but it claims that MI5 shared neither with counter-terror police. An MI5 officer identified as Witness C failed to write a report on the second piece of intelligence on the same day the agency assessed it. They also did not discuss it with their colleagues, a delay that led to failure to "take a potentially important investigative action."
Abedi flew into Manchester from Libya on May 18, 2017 — four days before the sold-out concert, where he detonated a homemade explosive device in the foyer at the end of the show. Had the intelligence been taken more seriously, the report maintains that the bomber could have been stopped at the airport and followed to his car, where the explosives were stored.
Saunders summarized in yesterday's press conference that the "failure by the security service to act swiftly enough" contributed to a "significant missed opportunity to take action that might have prevented the attack."
Abedi's family was also deemed "significantly" responsible for radicalizing him and his brother Hashem, who was sentenced to a minimum of 55 years in prison in the UK in 2020 for his involvement in the atrocity. Meanwhile, families of the bombing victims called MI5's "unacceptable" failures a "devastating conclusion" to the three-part inquiry, launched in October 2019.
