MI5 "too slow" compared to the Manchester Arena bomber


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Salman Abedi

Legend

Salman Abedi killed 22 people in the bomb attack at Manchester Arena in May 2017

The MI5 admits for the first time that it has made a mistake in failing to follow the 2017 Manchester bomber, deputies said.

A report from the Intelligence and Security Committee indicates that MI5 acknowledged that it had moved "too slowly" to establish how dangerous Salman Abedi, 22, was.

Security services were right to monitor Abedi's return from Libya to the UK a few days before the Manchester Arena attack, the newspaper said.

Twenty-two people died in the attack.

In its many criticisms, the committee stated that the government also had not fully learned from the attacks of the past 13 years.

Abedi would have learned to make bombs in Libya before returning to Manchester in May of last year to build his camera.

He entered the Manchester Arena, where thousands of people had watched the performance of American singer Ariana Grande, and had it exploded.

A previous report on the attack had revealed that MI5 had planned to consider the risks presented by Abedi – but the meeting was not scheduled before the attack.

In its findings, the SAI stated that there had been "no follow-up action" after Abedi's visit to a jailed Manchester terrorist organizer.

In addition, MI5 could have put in place a plan to monitor Abedi's movements, which would have revealed his return to the UK after Libya a few days before his attack.

"The MI5 has since admitted that, given the information it had on Abedi, it should have done so," the committee said.

"Abedi was reported for review, but the MI5 systems were running too slowly."

The committee stated that one of the identified deficiencies was so delicate that it could not be shared publicly.

But he added, "What we can say is that there have been several failures in dealing with Salman Abedi's case.

"It is impossible to say whether this could have prevented the devastating May 22 attack, we concluded that because of these shortcomings, the potential opportunities to prevent them were missed."

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Reuters

Legend

Manchester was a city in mourning after the attack

In their extremely critical report, members of Parliament and their peers on the committee also noted:

  • Measures to control access to the chemicals needed to make the bombs were "hopelessly obsolete"
  • Communication companies still did not fulfill their social obligations in detecting online terrorist planning – and it was recommended to pressure them to target their profits
  • The Home Office, Surrey County Police and County Council also committed "fundamental misconduct" in the treatment of the teenager who placed a bomb on the London Underground in September 2017.
  • The MI5 should rethink the way it "joins the hot spots" on some suspects as it did not understand the potential dangers posed by Khalid Masood, the attacker of the Westminster Bridge, despite a series of mounting evidence at six years old.

The committee also attacked the Home Office for failing to properly cooperate with its attempts to investigate how Parsons Green striker Ahmed Hassan went unnoticed.

He had "tried several times" to extract the "full proof" of the Home Office – but the information had not been provided in time.

"This is unacceptable," the committee said. "From what we have seen so far, the Home Office, the Surrey Police and the Surrey County Council had fundamental flaws in dealing with this case.

"This litany of errors will require a separate comprehensive review to which the Home Office will have to be directly responsible."

Determination & # 39; impressive & # 39;

The committee said that despite these concerns about the government, it recognized that MI5 and the police had taken the errors seriously.

"We note that MI5 and the anti-terrorist police have been thorough in their desire to learn from the mistakes of the past," he said.

"We also know and recognize the determination with which they approach their work, which we consider impressive.

"However, it is striking how many issues related to the terrorist attacks of 2017 have already been raised by this committee in our reports on the 7/7 attacks. [in 2005] and on the killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby [in 2013].

"We have already made recommendations in all these areas, but the government has not acted accordingly, and lessons learned from the tragic events of the past year must now lead to concrete action."

Interior Minister Sajid Javid said: "We have updated our counterterrorism strategy, introduced new legislation to stop threats earlier and have increased the number of exchanges. 39, information with local authorities.

"We are also ensuring that technology companies play their part in preventing terrorists from exploiting their platforms," ​​he added.

Scotland Yard said the police and MI5 had foiled 13 plots since the Westminster attack in March 2017.

Deputy Commissioner Neil Basu, head of the anti-terrorist police, said: "We will not let the terrorists who perpetrated these appalling attacks succeed in frightening us and dividing us."

The Met was going, he said, to do more now to improve the processing and evaluation of information and to make better use of the data.

It currently manages more than 700 real-time investigations, involving 3,000 people representing the greatest threat and 20,000 others who are also considered a source of concern.

Terrorist attacks in 2017

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Getty Images

March 22nd: Khalid Masood falls to the ground and kills four people Westminster Bridge before stabbing a policeman to death in front of Parliament.

May 22nd: Salman Abedi, 22, detonates a homemade bomb Manchester Arena The hearth unleashing the crowds as they leave an Ariana Grande concert. Twenty-two people die and more than 800 are injured.

June 3: Eight people are killed when three attackers drive a van in pedestrians London Bridge and launch a knife attack in Borough Market.

June 19th: Darren Osborne drives a van near the faithful Finsbury Park Mosquekilling one man and wounding nine others.

September 15th: Ahmed Hassan, 18, lays a homemade bomb on a subway at Green Parsons, which injures 51 people when it partially explodes.

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