MI5 had planned to discuss the threat posed by the Manchester suicide bomber just nine days after he launched his attack, an official report has revealed.

The review by David Anderson QC found the bombing which killed 22 people could have been averted "had the cards fallen differently."

Salman Abedi had been highlighted for discussion at an MI5 meeting due to take place on May 31, but he detonated his explosives at the Manchester Arena nine days earlier.

Internal reviews into the police and MI5’s handling of the four terrorist attacks to strike Britain this year said MI5 had on two separate occasions received intelligence on Abedi “whose significance was not fully appreciated at the time”.

The report by David Anderson QC, a former terrorism law reviewer asked by the Home Secretary to audit internal MI5 and police reviews, said: “In retrospect, the intelligence can be seen to have been highly relevant to the planned attack.”

His 61-page report concluded it was “conceivable that the Manchester attack in particular might have been averted had the cards fallen differently”.

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