The imam said on Tuesday that Abedi had shown him "the face of hate" when the imam gave a talk warning of the dangers of the so-called Islamic State. Police forensic investigators search a Fallowfield, Manchester property linked to the Abedi family. Credit:PA He was born in 1994, the second-youngest of four children. His parents were Libyan refugees who fled to Britain to escape Gaddafi. His mother, Samia Tabbal, 50, and father, Ramadan Abedi, a security officer, were both born in Tripoli but appear to have emigrated to London before moving to the Whalley Range area of south Manchester, where they had lived for at least a decade. Abedi went to school locally and then to Salford University in 2014, where he studied business management before dropping out. His trips to Libya, where it is thought his parents returned in 2011 following Gaddafi's overthrow, are now subject to scrutiny.

A group of Gaddafi dissidents, who were members of the outlawed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), lived near the Abedi family in Whalley Range. A message is written on the pavement in Manchester. Credit:AP Among them was Abd al-Baset Azzouz, a father-of-four from Manchester, who left Britain to run a terrorist network in Libya overseen by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's successor as leader of al-Qaeda. Azzouz, 48, an expert bombmaker, was accused of running an al-Qaeda network in eastern Libya. The Telegraph reported in 2014 that Azzouz had 200 to 300 militants under his control. Armed police watch over a vigil in Albert Square, Manchester, on Tuesday. Credit:AP

Another member of the Libyan community in Manchester, Salah Aboaoba, told Channel 4 News in 2011 that he had been fundraising for LIFG while in the city. Aboaoba had claimed he had raised funds at Didsbury mosque, the one attended by Abedi. The mosque vehemently denied the claim. Mohammed Saeed al-Saeiti, the imam at the Didsbury mosque, on Tuesday branded Abedi a dangerous extremist. "Salman showed me the face of hate after my speech on [IS]," said Saeiti. Members of the Manchester Sikh community attend a vigil in Albert Square, Manchester on Tuesday afternoon. Credit:AP Salman showed me the face of hate after my speech on Isis. Mosque imam Mohammed Saeed El-Saeiti "I could tell this person does not like me. It's not a surprise to me."

Abedi visited the mosque to pray, but Saeiti insisted "he was not my friend, he is not close. I could understand that he was not happy with me because I did combat [IS] in that Friday sermon sometimes". At the Abedi family home in Elsmore Road, a nondescript red-brick terrace, neighbours said Abedi had become increasingly devout and withdrawn. Lina Ahmed, 21, said: "They are a Libyan family and they have been acting strangely. A couple of months ago he [Salman] was chanting the first kalima [statement of Islamic faith] really loudly in the street. He was chanting in Arabic. "He was saying 'There is only one God and the prophet Muhammad is his messenger'." A family friend, who described the Abedis as "very religious", said most of the family had returned to Libya, leaving only Salman and his older brother Ismail behind.

"They have not been there for quite a while. Different people come and go," said Alan Kinsey, 52, a car delivery driver who lives across the street. Neighbours woke up to the reality that the quiet young man next door had blown himself up, murdering at least 22 innocent victims. Police and special forces blasted down the door of the family home at 11.30am. According to locals, two helicopters and at least 30 police officers arrived for the raid. "The police were very heavily armed. All of them. It was like something out of a war scene," said Mr Kinsey, "It was terrifying. About 30 of them arrived in camouflage and riot gear and removed the wooden fence between two properties.

"Then they attached a black strip to the door and there was a loud explosion. The door came off its hinges. The windows were shaking. The whole operation lasted about 90 seconds. Loading "I didn't see them leading anyone out of the house. I believe it was empty." Telegraph, London