UK home secretary confirms temporary exclusions in use for first time and warns Manchester network ‘may still be at large’

Suspected Islamist terrorists are being prevented from returning to the UK for the first time, the home secretary has disclosed, as she warned that members of the Manchester bomber’s terror network could still be at large.

As questions continue over how the intelligence services failed to monitor the movements of attacker Salman Abedi, Amber Rudd refused to rule out further anti-terror laws to clamp down on suspected jihadis.

Temporary exclusion orders make it unlawful for the subject to come back without engaging with UK authorities. Rudd refused to say how many times they had been used, but confirmed: “We have started to use them.”

The home secretary also admitted the authorities did not know how many Britons had returned from fighting with Islamic State or other extremists in Syria.

Abedi is reported to have travelled to Libya in 2011 during the school holidays to join his father, Ramadan, in the fight against Muammar Gaddafi. It has also been suggested Abedi “most likely” went to Syria but Turkish officials reportedly said they had no record of him travelling to the country.

Asked to comment on reports that the security services missed opportunities to monitor Abedi, Rudd said: “I wouldn’t rush to conclusions, as you seem to be, that they have missed.”



Pressed on whether Abedi was “red-flagged” to the security services and if there could be a review of current procedures, Rudd said: “We won’t shy away from looking at what we can do to keep people safe. We are in constant discussion with the security services and the police to make sure they have the right tools they need.”

Rudd also said “potentially” other members of Abedi’s group could still be free and “we can’t be entirely sure that [the operation] is closed”.

Her comments came after police issued CCTV stills of Abedi, wearing glasses and casual clothes, in a plea for information about his movements between 18 May and the attack four days later.

Rudd told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday: “It’s an ongoing operation. There are 11 people in custody, the operation is still at full tilt, in a way. Until the operation is complete, we can’t be entirely sure that it is closed.”

The home secretary said Isis was trying to “weaponise” young Britons and defended the work of the UK’s security services following claims that warnings about Abedi were not followed up.

The murderer had been a former “subject of interest” to MI5, but Rudd said: “The intelligence services are still collecting information about him and about the people around him. But I would not rush to conclusions, as you seem to be, that they have somehow missed something.”

She added: “What this reminds us is the scale of the problem that we have, the enemy that we have, Daesh, that is trying to weaponise the young people in our society.”

Rudd spoke after the parents of one victim of the attack told the government to “open its eyes” to the terror threat.

Georgina Callander, 18, was killed in the blast shortly after singer Ariana Grande left the stage at the Manchester Arena on Monday. In a statement released through Greater Manchester police, her family said the teenager’s life had been cut short by “evil, evil men prepared to ruin lives and destroy families”.

It added: “I wish I could say that Georgina is one of the last to die in this way but unless our government opens its eyes we know we are only another in a long line of parents on a list that continues to grow.”

Eleven men arrested in connection with the attack remained in custody on Sunday.