Manchester bomber Salman Abedi was once part of a ring of Muslim students who accused their teacher of being Islamophobic, The Times Of London reported Saturday.

The accusation came after the teacher asked the class sometime between 2009 and 2011 what they thought of someone who blow themselves up in a suicide attack. “A group went to complain to their RE teacher saying it was Islamophobic,” an associate of Abedi’s told TheTOL.

The incident has come under scrutiny after Abedi killed 22 people and injured more than 50 Monday at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. The attack was the worst in Britain in over a decade and has exposed a large terrorist cell operating in the northern English city.

A former classmate of Abedi’s said that, “He had anger issues. He would get easily wound up and I remember he would storm out of class a lot because he didn’t like the teacher’s attitude.” During his high school years Abedi reportedly smoked marijuana and drank alcohol frequently, drawing the ire of his conservative Muslim Libyan parents.

At one point Abedi’s parents forced him to move back to Libya where he became intensely religious. His former friends told U.K. media that he returned from the country and began hanging out with a new group of Arab friends, as well as growing out a long beard.

Abedi’s behavior is characteristic of many would-be terrorists who frequently have violent or troubled lives and substance abuse problems. Many of the terrorists find salvation from their substance abuse problems through religious redemption, and eventually embrace jihadist ideology.

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