Manchester bomber is named as British Libyan jihadist Salman Abedi who killed 22 – including a girl aged EIGHT

The suicide bomber who blew himself up at a pop concert killing 22 people including young children has been named as Salman Abedi.

ISIS have claimed responsibility after the terrorist set off a ball bearing bomb at an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 and injuring 119 in the worst terror attack Britain has seen since the 7/7 London bombings.

Eight-year-old Saffie Roussos, 18-year-old Georgina Callander and 26-year-old John Atkinson were among those killed. Of the injured, at least 12 were children were among 59 taken to hospital, with 60 others treated at the scene.

Traumatised witnesses have told how of nuts and bolts tore into young music fans when the bomb was detonated in the foyer area of the Manchester Arena moments after a concert by the US popstar ended.

The bomber – named today as 22-year-old Salman Abedi – was known to authorities. He died at the scene and police carried out a controlled explosion at what is believed to be his home during raids around the city today.

Abedi is understood to have been born in Britain but is from a Libyan family. A school friend told MailOnline had grown a beard when he last saw him and neighbours claimed he had been ‘acting strangely’ recently.

A 23-year-old man, believed to be Abedi’s brother, was also arrested by anti-terror officers as police and security services attempt to work out if the suicide bomber was part of a cell.

Security sources have told MailOnline that initial analysis of the ‘sophisticated’ device suggests it was made by an expert.

Abedi was born in Manchester on New Year’s Eve 1994, the son of two Libyans who came to Britain to escape the Gaddafi regime, the  Daliy Telegraph reported.

It is understood he has three siblings, two brothers and a sister. It is understood some of his family have returned to Libya since the fall of Colonel Gaddafi.

The suicide bomber was heard chanting Islamic prayers in Arabic just weeks before the attack, a neighbour has revealed.

Lina Ahmed, 21, told MailOnline: ‘They are a Libyan family and they have been acting strangely.

‘A couple of months ago he [Salman] was chanting the first kalma [Islamic prayer] really loudly in the street. He was chanting in Arabic. He was saying “There is only one God and the prophet Mohammed is his messenger.”

She added: ‘I heard a really loud bang and went out into the street to see what was happening.

‘There was loads of police and they shouted at me and told me to get back inside.’

Another neighbour Roshanay Bukhari said: ‘They are a Libyan family. They speak Arabic together and they have Libyan flags in their garden.

‘There is a mother, a father and their son Salman. The mother used to teach my younger sister to read the Koran because it us in Arabic.

‘They dressed very traditionally, in Islamic clothes. The mother used to wear a headscarf.’

Leon Hall, who went to school with Abedi, told MailOnline he saw the killer last year and said he had grown a beard. He also said the jihadist was a keen Manchester United fan.

Mr Hall said: ‘I saw him last year and he had a beard thing going on. We didn’t speak but just nodded to each other. I don’t remember seeing him with beard before.’

‘He always had a bit of an attitude problem. I can’t say I really liked the man.’

Mr Hall said Abedi, who he believes is a Muslim, lived in a housing association owned home about two miles from the scene of Monday night’s terror attack.

Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said this afternoon: ‘I can confirm that the man suspected of carrying out last night’s atrocity has been named as 22-year-old Salman Abedi. However, he has not yet been formally identified and I wouldn’t wish, therefore, to comment further.

Credit Dailymail