Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi died from suicide in terror attack that killed 22 people, inquest concludes

Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi died of ‘blast injuries’ when he detonated an explosive device in a ‘planned terror attack’, an inquest has recorded.

The conclusion comes more than six years after the 22-year-old blew himself up at the end of a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds more.

It was released today by Sir John Saunders, who chaired a long-running public inquiry into the atrocity and who sat as a coroner to rule on the circumstances of Abedi’s death.

The documentary inquest took place without any court hearings after none of the victims’ families objected to the arrangement, with the multiple ‘missed opportunities’ in the run-up to the atrocity already detailed in his three reports.

Among additional reasons given for not holding an inquest hearing – which the public and media could have attended – were the risk of ‘glorifying his act of terrorism’.

Sir John’s findings are that Abedi died of blast injuries at 10.31pm on May 22, 2017 in the City Room of the Manchester Arena.

Salman Abedi blew himself up at the end of a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande , killing 22 people and injuring hundreds more

Abedi on the night of the terror atrocity, which was one of the worst in UK history 

‘The deceased died near to the entrance doors to the Manchester Arena, when he detonated an explosive device that he had made with his brother and carried into the City Room in a backpack as part of a planned terror attack,’ Sir John wrote.

‘In detonating the device the deceased murdered 22 innocent victims and injured many others.’

His conclusion was: ‘Suicide while undertaking a terror attack that murdered 22 innocent victims and injured many others.’

READ MORE – The 23 missed chances to stop the Manchester Arena bomber 

Abedi’s address is given in south Manchester and his occupation as ‘unemployed’.

As Abedi died a violent death, an inquest was ruled necessary by law.

But much of the evidence and circumstances of his death has already been uncovered in the long-running public inquiry into the bombing, which ended earlier this year.

The former High Court judge decided that ‘no public interest would be served by holding a hearing’ for three reasons, a spokesman said today.

‘Firstly, the issues to be addressed in the inquest about how Salman Abedi died have been considered in detail during the public inquiry.

‘Secondly the coroner is aware that there is a risk by adducing, in public, detailed evidence about the circumstances of Salman Abedi’s death glorifying his act of terrorism.

‘Thirdly, in light of the detailed examination into the attack by the inquiry there can be no real prospect of disagreement about the inquest’s likely determination and findings about the death of Salman Abedi and the coroner therefore considered it is appropriate to hold the inquest on the papers only.

‘In all those circumstances, the coroner took the view that it was entirely unnecessary to have any form of hearing and it would have been a waste of public money to do so.’ 

The 22 victims of the terror attack during the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in May 2017

Documentary inquests can only take place if the coroner considers that no public interest would be served by a hearing in open court.

Abedi, who was born and raised in Manchester, detonated a homemade bomb in his rucksack in the City Room foyer area of the Arena at the end of a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande.

READ MORE – Prince William says Manchester Arena bombing survivors ‘must have their voices heard’ 

Hundreds were injured, while 22 concert-goers and relatives were killed in the blast, the youngest eight-year-old Saffie-Rose Roussos.

The public inquiry into the terror attack highlighted ‘missed opportunities’ to identify Abedi as a threat, both in the years he spent on the radar of MI5 and in the minutes before he detonated his shrapnel-packed device.

In his third and final report earlier this year, Sir John concluded that had MI5 acted on two pieces of intelligence and put the bomber under surveillance, they could have uncovered his plan, he said.

The retired High Court judge described it as a ‘significant missed opportunity’.

Sir John highlighted how two pieces of information about Abedi in the run-up to the attack were assessed by MI5 not to relate to terrorism – despite his having been on their radar for seven years.

In closed hearings, the spy involved admitted they considered one to represent a possible pressing national security concern – but did not discuss it with colleagues straightaway and did not write up a report on the same day.

In his 207-page report, Sir John said MI5 had failed to ‘act swiftly enough’ – and that the delay ‘led to the missing of an opportunity to take a potentially important investigative action’.

Abedi was then on a month-long trip to Libya where Sir John concluded he received ‘specific training in how to assemble an IED (improvised explosive device)’ – and on how to make his bomb ‘more deadly’.

Inquiry chief Sir John Saunders found that Abedi’s Libyan parents, Ramadan (pictured) and Samia, and elder brother Ismail all held ‘significant responsibility for the radicalisation’

Salman’s brother, Hashem Abedi, is in prison for life after helping him carry out the attack. His other brother, Ismail, left the UK after being called to give evidence to the inquiry 

Libya extradited Hashem (pictured) in 2019. He was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 55 years

Had the intelligence been investigated – which Sir John concluded ‘should have happened’ – Abedi could have been placed under surveillance on his return from Libya four days before the bombing, he said.

In addition, spies could have followed Abedi to the car he used to hide a quantity of TATP, known as ‘mother of Satan’, the explosive used in the bomb.

Had these steps happened, he said, ‘the attack might have been prevented’.

In response, MI5 director general Ken McCallum said he was ‘profoundly sorry’ that the atrocity wasn’t prevented.

READ MORE – Gang who supplied £10m of drugs and were associates of Manchester Arena bomber jailed for 40 years 

But he insisted there had only been a ‘slim chance’ that officers could have learnt what Abedi was planning.

However Andrew Roussos, whose eight-year-old daughter Saffie-Rose was among the 22 victims, said evidence to the public inquiry into the bombing showed MI5 ‘didn’t have a slim chance’ but had ‘loads of chances, transparent chances’.

Blasting Mr McCallum for ‘not taking responsibility for your own actions’, the 49-year-old said: ‘Just accept you messed up.’

The nature of the information MI5 received about Abedi may never be made public as it was discussed during closed hearings.

Detailing how Abedi was indoctrinated by his own family, Sir John said his Libyan parents, Ramadan and Samia, and elder brother Ismail, 29, all held ‘significant responsibility for the radicalisation’.

All are now believed to be in Libya and refused to cooperate with the inquiry.

Sir John’s first report, published in 2021, focused on security at the Arena that night.

It highlighted a string of ‘missed opportunities’ to identify Abedi as a threat shortly before he blew himself up.

His second, unveiled last November, exposed how shocking failings by emergency services left victims of the blast ‘dying without dignity’ – and said there was a chance that two could have survived with better care.

Abedi’s brother, Hashem Abedi, was jailed for a minimum of 55 years in August 2020 for his involvement in plotting the bombing.

Abedi, who was born and raised in Manchester, detonated a homemade bomb in his rucksack in the City Room foyer area of the Arena. Pictured are police outside the venue on the night  

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