A Libyan armed group holding the brother of a suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a pop concert in the English city of Manchester won’t grant a British extradition request, its spokesman said on Thursday.
Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old Briton born to Libyan parents, blew himself up at the end of a show by U.S. singer Ariana Grande in the deadliest militant attack in Britain in 12 years.
His victims included seven children, and more than 500 people were injured. On Wednesday, British police said they had issued an arrest warrant for Hashem Abedi and prosecutors had asked Libya to extradite him.
“We will not extradite Hashem Abedi to [United Kingdom] authorities,” said Ahmad Ben Salim of the Deterrence Force [Rada], a counterterrorism group allied to the UN-backed government in Tripoli.
He said there was no legal agreement between Britain and his group to allow extradition.
Various armed factions in Tripoli have aligned themselves with the government, some with semi-official status for law enforcement.
Helped buy equipment but denies knowledge
On Wednesday, British police said they had applied for and been granted an arrest warrant for Hashem Abedi for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion. ISIS said it was responsible in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, but security services have always treated the claim with skepticism.
Days after the attack, Libyan counter-terrorism investigators arrested Hashem Abedi and the father of the brothers, Ramadan. In June, the Special Deterrence Force said Hashem Abedi had told them his brother had been radicalized in Britain in 2015.
They had both flown from Britain to Libya in April, and Hashem Abedi said he had helped buy the equipment necessary for the attack, although he had not known that Salman Abedi was planning a bombing, Rada said.
British police say Salman Abedi returned to Manchester on May 18, four days before his attack. The family had emigrated to Britain during the rule of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The brothers’ ‘parents returned to Libya during the country’s 2011 revolution.
Police have previously said they believed Salman Abedi had built the bomb himself, and CCTV showed him buying nuts from a hardware store that were used as shrapnel, as well as the tin that was believed to contain the explosives.
