Manchester police investigate ‘significant’ Nissan Micra as new CCTV images emerge of killer Salman Abedi
HOMES and shops were evacuated yesterday as bomb squad officers examined a car believed to be linked to the Manchester terror attack.
Police described the abandoned white Nissan Micra as “significant” to their investigation and placed a 100-metre cordon around the vehicle.
Detective Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson said: “This is potentially a significant development in the investigation.
"The car is a white Nissan Micra that has been located at Devell House, not far from Banff Road.
“We are very interested in anything people can tell us about the movements of this car, and who was in it, over the past months.
"We are also interested in any information about who may have had access to the car or who may have gone to and from it.
“We are really grateful for the public’s continued help in what is a very fast moving investigation and again we appeal for the public to contact us with any information, however small you believe it may be, about Abedi’s movements.”
The discovery came just hours after police released new CCTV images showing the final movements of bomber Salman Abedi.
Pictures show Abedi in the run-up to last week’s attack at the Manchester Arena, which killed 22 and injured over 100 people leaving an Ariana Grande concert.
Abedi, 22, can be seen dragging a large blue suitcase in one of the CCTV pictures. Another shows him in the baseball cap he wore on the night of the attack.
Detective Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson said: “This is potentially a significant development in the investigation.
"The car is a white Nissan Micra that has been located at Devell House, not far from Banff Road.
“We are very interested in anything people can tell us about the movements of this car, and who was in it, over the past months.
"We are also interested in any information about who may have had access to the car or who may have gone to and from it.
“We are really grateful for the public’s continued help in what is a very fast moving investigation and again we appeal for the public to contact us with any information, however small you believe it may be, about Abedi’s movements.”
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Cops confirmed the Manchester Royal Infirmary will be open as normal, but people are being evacuated from Ronald McDonald House as a precaution.
Meanwhile, Abedi's cousins have claimed the 22-year-old plotted "secretly to himself" before the atrocity on May 22.
Brothers Isaac and Abz Forjani, who were arrested by armed police soon after the attack before being released without charge, said they had been left "traumatised" by their cousin's actions.
Abz, 21, told the BBC: "For people who have seen it as a big network we were involved in, it was nothing like that.
"I believe it was all done by one man which developed some sort of thoughts in the past few years which he kept secretly to himself.
"He never shared it with any members of the family - if he would have we could have done something to stop that happening."
Isaac, 24, added: "It's not easy being connected to 22 lost, innocent lives.
"The fact that the person that did this is related to us by blood is something that's going to stay with me for the rest of my life.
"My thoughts are with the families of the victims. I really do feel for them."
Police have raided a number of homes in the wake of the atrocity at the Manchester Arena which killed 22 people.
They have also released pictures of Abedi wheeling a large blue suitcase which they are now hunting for.
The development came as the Duke of Cambridge visited Greater Manchester Police HQ to meet officers who were among the first to respond to the bombing.
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