Pictured: Chilling images emerge from bomber's terror den
Chilling images have emerged of the rented Manchester flat Salman Abedi used as he planned a suicide explosion that would go on to claim 22 innocent lives.
Neighbours revealed they noticed the “strong smell of explosives” coming from the Graby Row apartment that is thought to be the last place the 22-year-old visited before detonating a suicide bomb at a packed Ariana Grande concert.
It remains unclear whether he had been living in the $130 per night apartment or had been using it to construct the suspected nail bomb.
Neighbours said he was acting suspiciously at the time and claim that various large packages had been delivered to the house in the weeks leading up to the blast.
Elite SAS officers raided the luxurious apartment complex. Source: 7 News
Police are attempting to determine this apartment was where the bomb was made. Source: 7 News
Neighbours said they noticed a strong "smell of explosives" coming from the apartment. Source: 7 News
The one bedroom flat was raided by armed police, including elite troops from the SAS.
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Witnesses saw the intense raids unfolding in what is typically a calm Manchester community.
"I just asked [one of the officers] why and he just turned round and said he has reason to believe that the chap who's done the bombing visited Granby Row around 7pm on Monday evening before the explosion,” local bar owner David Foran said.
Abedi is thought to have revisited the apartment moments before the attack. Source: 7 News
The 22-year-old convinced his parents to allow him to travel to Saudi Arabia for a religious pilgrimage but is believed to have returned to the UK four days before the attack.
“The father had all the passports with him and was holding them. But Salman said he wanted to do Umrah and that is why he needed to leave Libya,” Jamal Zubia, a leading figure in the Libyan community in Manchester told The Times.
Abedi was filmed taking out the bins in a brown robe by a suspicious neighbour.
