During the most recent press conference, Manchester police chief Ian Hopkins stated that they have arrested four people so far during their investigation of the bombing of the Manchester arena and the evidence suggests a terror network was responsible for the terrorist attack. Islamic State did claim responsibility for the attack several hours after the bombing which killed 22 and injured 64.

I think it’s very clear that this is a network that we are investigating,” Hopkins told reporters outside Manchester police headquarters.

“And as I’ve said, it continues at a pace. There’s extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester as we speak.”- Reuters

One of those arrested is Ismail Abedi, the brother of the suicide bomber, Salman Abedi. The Abedi brothers are UK citizens and both of their parents immigrated from Libya. It is thought that Salman may have traveled to Syria and Libya in the recent past. Since the arrest of Ismail and the identification of Salman as the bomber, their father has protested their innocence.

The father of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi has said son is innocent, and has confirmed police have arrested another of his sons.

Talking from Tripoli, he said: ‘We don’t believe in killing innocents. This is not us.'”- Daily Mail

Image of Salman Abedi, courtesy of BBC.

According to BBC, Salman Abedi is thought to have been a “mule” using an explosive device which was likely built by someone else. The identities of the remaining three people arrested have not been released yet and police are still actively executing warrants in search of more connections to the terrorist attack. The national threat level was also raised yesterday which has closed many tourist attractions and several thousands of soldiers could be given posts around the country. So far, 984 have been deployed to London. SOFREP will continue to follow this investigation.

Update: Salman’s youngest brother, Hashem Abedi was just arrested in Tripoli for suspicion of terrorist activity and connections to Islamic State.

Featured image courtesy of Getty Images