Manchester bomb: Salman Abedi 'wanted revenge' for US air strikes on Syria, killer's sister says

Revenge: Salman Abedi's sister said she believed he acted out of a desire for payback
Eleanor Rose25 May 2017

Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 people in revenge for US air strikes on Syria, his sister believes.

Jomana Abedi said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal: “I think he saw children - Muslim children - dying everywhere, and wanted revenge.”

She added: “He saw the explosives America drops on children in Syria, and he wanted revenge.

“Whether he got that is between him and God.”

Ms Abedi's comments sparked outrage, with some saying the US's involvement in Syria could not be compared to the targeting of innocent children at a pop concert.

Salman Abedi, 22, has been identified as the man behind the suicide bombing in Manchester

The US military launched an airstrike on an airbase close to the city of Homs in early April, in an operation President Donald Trump said was in response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.

59 Tomahawk missiles rained on the al-Shayran airbase, which US security services said had been a storage point for chemical weapons.

Six Syrian soldiers were killed in the strike, while Syrian officials claimed that nine civilians including four children had also lost their lives.

But the idea of Monday's massacre as a revenge attack for events in Syria sparked outcry. Mark Session, 52, from Manchester told the Mirror: “There is no justification for the taking of child's lives.

“Any kid losing their life is heartbreaking, but to my knowledge, no children in the allied air strikes has been targeted purposely unlike in Manchester.”

He added: “It is sick to justify the arena bombing in such a way. It is abhorrent in fact.”

Mr Abedi’s familial links to terror have come under the spotlight since Monday night’s attack.

A Libyan security official reported that Mr Abedi's father Ramadan had been arrested in Tripoli and was linked to an al-Qaeda-backed fighter group back in the 1990s.

Younger brother Hashim had also been detained in Tripoli, according to officials.

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