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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Paul Byrne

Manchester Arena bombers' sister bleats 'we've suffered too' after inquiry into atrocity

The sister of the Manchester Arena bombers has bleated about how her family has been “going through hell” since the sickening atrocity.

Twisted suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, detonated his home-made device at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, slaughtering 22 people.

Younger brother Hashem, now 25, was jailed for a minimum of 55 years for his part in the plot.

And after the public inquiry into the horror released its report last week, their sister Jomana has astonishingly told of how her family has “suffered too”.

Speaking from her home in Tripoli, Libya, the British-born 22-year-old said: “We are trying to get on with life and forget everything that happened. We feel we are paying for what they did. We are exhausted by it all. We did nothing wrong but the whole world blames us.

“Nothing can bring them [Salman and Hashem] back and since 2017 my family has been going through hell.”

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, from Manchester (Daily Record)
Ismail Abedi has fled the UK (PA)

Days after the atrocity, Jomana said she believed Salman wanted revenge for the deaths of Muslim children at the hands of the US. She said: “I think he saw children – Muslim children – dying everywhere, and wanted revenge.

“He saw the explosives America drops on children in Syria and he wanted revenge. Whether he got that is between him and God.”

Salman and Hashem’s elder brother Ismail, 29, left the UK last year after refusing to appear as a witness at the public inquiry.

In July, he was convicted in his absence of failing to appear and a warrant has since been issued for his arrest.

Saffie Roussos, 8, one of the victims of the terror attack during the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena (PA)
Victim of Manchester Arena bombing John Atkinson (UGC/FAMILY)

Their parents, Ramadan Abedi and Samia Tabbal, are understood to be living in Tripoli.

The scathing inquiry report last week criticised “risk-averse” emergency services that failed to treat victims at the scene for up to two hours.

It found two victims – John Atkinson, 28, and Saffie-Rose Roussos, the youngest victim at eight – could have survived with better medical treatment. But inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said the responsibility for all the deaths lay with Salman and Hashem Abedi.

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