Inside Manchester bomber Salman Abedi’s £75-a-night flat where cops uncovered high quantities of chemicals – sparking fears of second attack
The concert terrorist is believed to have been at the apartment in Granby Row, central Manchester, just hours before the bombing
SUICIDE bomber Salman Abedi built his deadly device with the backing of ISIS warlords in this £75-a-night city centre flat.
Police fear he made enough explosive for two more bombs — as MI5 warned 3,000 of his fellow jihadis were currently involved in 500 active plots in Britain.
All 22 victims murdered by Abedi were identified yesterday after attack which left 116 injured.
On raiding the plush rental flat, cops discovered a huge stock of chemicals and bomb-making components.
Abedi may have planned the attack over the course of a year, having received training from ISIS experts in Libya or Syria, an investigation by The Times suggests.
He is said to have opened a bank account 12 months ago to fund DIY trips while he built up his deadly bomb-making kit purchased from B&Q and Screwfix.
He is believed to have made at least two trips to the superstores before leaving to Libya in April, the paper says.
Abedi first constructed the detonator, a small switchboard, in a workshop at his family home in Fallowfield, south Manchester.
He then mixed and primed the device hours before the concert massacre on Monday night in the kitchen and bathroom of the rental apartment.
He combined hydrogen peroxide with another chemical to produce a white powder known as Mother of Satan, which acted as the explosive charge.
A 12-volt battery was then attached to power the detonator.
The device was then concealed in a blue Karrimor rucksack packed with nuts, screws and bolts and made his way to the Arena two miles away — a 25-minute walk.
The smart pad, which is owned by a couple and rented out, was raided by the SAS and armed police on Wednesday.
Yesterday the main entrance to the block was still under armed guard. A bomb disposal truck remained and the building’s underground car park had been cordoned off.
The £100,000 flat in Granby Row is a few minutes’ walk from Manchester’s main Piccadilly station and close to the city’s Gay Village.
The description on the flat listing says it is “located in the heart of the city centre” and has a fully-equipped kitchen/lounge, one double bedroom and bathroom with shower.
It adds that it is an “ideal location” for most of the city’s landmarks, including the “Phones4U Arena” — the previous name for the Manchester Arena.
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The third-floor flat is available through rental agency ARC Properties, with Land Registry documents listing the owner as Ruth Bain.
She is a director of the company along with her husband Andrew and son Christopher.
There is no suggestion they had any involvement in the attack, but police are thought to have questioned them about the rental to establish the account where the payment came from.
Although there is no CCTV on the door police have retrieved footage from nearby buildings and are examining it for clues.
There are also looking at footage along the route from the flat to the Arena.
Abedi is thought to have been at the flat as late as 7pm on Monday, just three and a half hours before he launched his bloody attack at the Ariana Grande gig.
Residents in the block told The Sun they had spoken to the police about a number of suspicious packages being delivered to the postal room.
Adam Price, 38, who lives opposite the flat where the bomb was built, said: “To think that someone has been holed up inside there plotting such an atrocity as this is beyond belief.
“I know it’s been rented out on short-term lets and have seen people coming and going for years.
“With it being in the city centre, it’s a party flat. Used by people visiting the city to have a good time. Sometimes it can be pretty boisterous but that’s just people having fun.
“But there was no noise, no trouble from the flat recently. On Wednesday I was out walking my dogs when a friend rang me saying, ‘Your building’s on the news’. It’s surreal.
“I reported to the police that recently I’d seen a lot of big packages in the postal room being delivered — it was just something else that was really unusual.”
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Adam also said he had recently seen an “Asian” man he did not recognise leaving the flats.
He added: “I’ve lived in this building 15 years and have a pretty good idea of who everyone is.
"But last week as I was coming in the main entrance after walking my dogs there was an Asian man I didn’t recognise who was dressed in Islamic religious clothing, wearing a cap and gown.
“He kicked my dog and shouted at me to get him away. I was appalled.”
The bombs are also like those used in the recent attacks in Brussels and Paris. It came as it emerged that suicide bomber Abedi, 22, grew up on the same estate as notorious IS recruiter Raphael Hostey.
Information in a cache of IS documents uncovered by Sky News show the two had known links, with security services saying they had a “significant” connection.
They hung out together and worshipped at the same mosque in Didsbury. At least 16 people from the wider area are believed to have signed up to fight jihad abroad.
Hostey is thought to have been killed by a drone strike in Syria last year aged 24.
Abedi was kicked out of another mosque after accusing an imam of “talking b*****ks” during a sermon critical of IS.
Mosque chairman Abdullah Muhsin Norris, 70, said: “I am very unhappy knowing that he has come here and prayed here and seeing him reading the Koran and so on — and the next minute you hear he blew up and 22 people are killed.
“It is very hard to believe someone could do that.”
Abedi, the British-born son of Libyan parents, was also asked to leave the Salaam Community Centre in Moss Side after he tried to hide in the library to read religious books overnight.