‘Counter-extremism’ NGO Quilliam is the latest group to insert contradictions in to the Manchester bombing case. It is their assertion that alleged suicide bomber Salman Abedi didn’t learn bomb making in Libya under extremists linked with his father (as reported by the Daily Mail), but rather he was self-taught through YouTube tutorial videos and other online sources.
The Times piece states: “Two days after the Manchester attack, a series of bomb-making guides were found freely available on Facebook and YouTube, including step-by-step instructions on how to make a bomb using acetone peroxide, an ingredient used by Abedi … The nail bomb’s main ingredient was triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which can be made using common chemicals. TATP was used in the 2005 London bombings and in the Paris and Brussels atrocities in 2015 and last year.”
As further summarized by the Independent: “…a 22-minute video on YouTube and Facebook from a series [curiously] called “Jihadi Ideas for Lone Lions” told viewers how to make a household bomb from the same type of explosive used by Abedi.”
Despite these claims, evidence of TATP at the scene of the Manchester arena attack has not been formerly presented and we will likely have to wait for several months until the victim and Abedi inquests recommence, before we get to know the ‘official story’ and its supporting evidence. This also applies to whether Abedi actually watched these videos or if they were just floating around at the same time.
Furthermore the claim that TATP was used in the 7/7 bombings in 2005 is a bit of a misnomer, because while a crude homemade sludge resembling HMTD (not TATP) was recovered from a flat in Leeds, no forensic evidence of such substances were actually recovered from the targeted bus or carriages themselves. Thus we don’t know with certainty what was used in those attacks.
Simple Homemade Bomb vs Sophisticated Professional Device
As I’ve explored multiple times now, it’s difficult to reconcile the co-existing narratives that Abedi was mostly self-radicalized on the internet, bought the bomb parts himself and learned how to assemble the device via YouTube … and that he was radicalized via ties with the MI6 and NATO backed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, traveled to Libya several times under the watch of the state, possibly learned bomb making at a compound in Tripoli, and was aided in buying the components by brother Hashem, who was well aware of the plot.
The most glaring contradiction to the homemade bomb/lone wolf narrative are reports originating with the New York Times that the device was so sophisticated it had remote detonation capabilities – begging the question, was Abedi a witting suicide bomber at all?
The Independent notes: “Even if Abedi, a university dropout, may have received real-life training, reports that he managed to build the bomb after viewing online tutorials will continue to raise questions over the accessibility of such material on mainstream web platforms.”
This of course plays in to Theresa May’s ongoing agenda to further regulate the internet, despite her ‘snooper’s charter‘ not preventing any of the resent attacks. The fact that she was Home Secretary at the time control orders on Libyan’s were lifted so they could travel to fight Gaddafi, should not be forgotten.
In an interesting aside and example of the state’s collusion with Libyan terrorists, it came out on Saturday that a terror suspect previously imprisoned in the UK was put in charge of guarding David Cameron on an official visit to Tripoli in 2011!
Tom Secker of SpyCulture.com and InvestigatingTheTerror.com had the following to add regarding TATP, 7/7 and Quilliam:
