Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

First image of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi on night of sickening attack is released

Salman Abedi on the night he carried out the Manchester Arena terror attack (Greater Manchester Police/PA Wire)
Salman Abedi on the night he carried out the Manchester Arena terror attack (Greater Manchester Police/PA Wire) NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

THIS is the first chilling image of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi on the night he unleashed his murderous campaign of terror.

Hands casually in pockets and with a rucksack on his back, Abedi was caught on CCTV in the city on Monday night. Wearing jeans, trainers and a dark jacket, Abedi, 22, cuts an unobtrusive figure.

But shortly afterwards, he arrived at the Manchester Arena, where, at 10.33pm, he detonated his bomb just as crowds were leaving an Ariana Grande concert.

The blast killed 22 innocent people, including seven children and injured 116 others. The bomb – carried in his rucksack – was packed with nails and bolts to cause maximum injury.

Before arriving at the concert, which had attracted a young audience including many children, Abedi is believed to have put the final touches to his bomb in a city centre flat.

Police said they had built up a “detailed picture” of his movements since he returned to British shores on May 18, reportedly from his family’s native Libya.

Salman Abedi on the night he carried out the Manchester Arena terror attack. (Greater Manchester Police/PA Wire)
Salman Abedi on the night he carried out the Manchester Arena terror attack. (Greater Manchester Police/PA Wire)

They made a further appeal to the public for information about Abedi’s activity between the arrival in the UK and his suicide attack.

The force said in a statement: “We immediately established full command and control of the incident and within an hour of the attack taking place a specialist counter terrorism control room had been established with a first priority of identifying the attacker.

“Specialist counter terrorist forensic teams were sent to try to identify the attacker and within two hours his identity was known.”

The following investigation involved around 1000 officers, as a huge operation was launched to suppress any further terror threats posed by Abedi’s potential network.

Some 984 soldiers have been deployed on Britain’s streets – including guarding Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, with a further 800 available when required.

Eleven men remain in police custody following a series of raids across north-west England while Abedi’s father Ramadan and brother Hashim have been detained in Libya.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline anonymously on 0800 789321.