Manchester attack: Members of the public 'reported Salman Abedi to anti-terror hotline'
Calls thought to have been made five years ago after Abedi left school
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Your support makes all the difference.Two people who had known Manchester bomber Salman Abedi at college tipped off police after he made statements "supporting terrorism," it has been reported.
An unnamed Muslim community worker told the BBC two people who knew the attacker called the anti-terror hotline after Abedi expressed the view that "being a suicide bomber was okay".
The calls are thought to have been made five years ago after Abedi left school, the community worker added.
The claims come before Theresa May is due to chair a fourth meeting of the Government's Cobra committee in London, before she heads to a Nato summit.
In response to the heightened threat, the Government has activated Operation Temperer, providing up to 3,800 troops to support the police in security operations.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said 984 military personnel were being deployed around the country, which the Metropolitan Police said had freed up 1,000 armed officers to carry out patrols.
She confirmed Abedi had recently returned from a visit to Libya, and said the nature of the attack suggested he may have had support.
A spokesman for Libyan authorities said one of Abedi's final acts before the murders was to ring his mother.
He told BBC2's Newsnight: "His brother felt there was something going on there in Manchester and he thought his brother would do something like bombing or attack. So after that, he told us, 'Having internet, I see the attack in Manchester and I knew that's my brother'."
The spokesman added that Libyan authorities were aware of Abedi going to the capital of Tripoli on April 18 and believed he stayed for two or three weeks.
He revealed that Abedi's younger brother Hashim had been investigated for about a month and a half over suspicions that he was linked to IS.
"We were not quite sure about this, but when we arrested and we asked him, he told us, 'I have ideology with my brother'. Hashim told us, 'I know everything about my brother, what he was doing there in Manchester'."
Additional reporting by agencies
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