The bomber suspected of attacking a Manchester pop concert has been linked to an extremist imam from Ottawa whom Canadian intelligence officials had warned was “promoting violent jihad” in Libya.
Quoting a senior American official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the New York Times reported Wednesday that Salman Abedi “had links to a radical preacher in Libya identified as Abdul Baset Ghwela.”
The report appeared to be referring to a man the Canadian government calls Abdu Albasset Egwilla, a Canadian cleric who has been accused of inciting violence since returning to Libya.
Canada’s Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre said in a 2014 intelligence report that Egwilla had appeared in a video in which he had “urged an audience of Libyan Islamist fighters to take part in jihad.”
