Didsbury mosque leaders offer themselves for police questioning over Salman Abedi

Mohammad El Khayat [Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images]

Senior leaders of a mosque which was attended by the Manchester Arena suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, have voluntarily offered themselves to be questioned by the police.

Didsbury mosque’s chair of trustees, Mohammad El Khayat, said he and other senior members of the mosque attended a local police station to be questioned and investigated. 

During his khutbah at Jummah prayers, Mr El Khayat condemned Monday’s deadly attack and stated that the mosque had nothing to hide.

He added that many of the people who prayed at the mosque had been welcomed into the UK and the congregation always worked towards positively contributing to the local community.

Sergeant Allan Dean who is located at west Didsbury briefly spoke to the congregation to reassure them that the mosque would be protected.

Hate mail has been sent to the mosque since it was revealed that Abedi and other members of his family were worshippers at the mosque.

Monday’s suicide bombing which killed 22 people was the worst terrorist attack in Britain since the London bombing on 7 July 2005 where 56 people were killed.

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Police are treating the Manchester Arena bombing as a terrorist attack and have established that British born Abedi was part of a wider network.

His brother Hashim and father Ramadan Abedi have been detained by Libyan security services for having links with ISIS.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on social media.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Tuesday evening that the terror threat level in the UK has increased to “critical”.

A thousand military personnel were deployed in key sites in Manchester and London on Wednesday. 

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