Counter-terror police have made a fresh arrest in connection with the Manchester suicide bombing as officers raid another address in the city.
Greater Manchester Police said a 25-year-old man had been detained on suspicion of terror offences in the Old Trafford area.
A search is also being carried out at an address in Moss Side, in the south of the city, as part of the investigation.
Latest update. pic.twitter.com/Q1EvKmVOPB
— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 28, 2017
Twelve people are now being held in custody after the atrocity at Manchester Arena left 22 dead.
Images posted on social media showed armed officers in the Moss Side neighbourhood amid reports of an explosion.
Police would not comment on whether a controlled blast was used to gain entrance to the property, a tactic used on previous raids.
One resident wrote on Twitter: “There was an explosion about half an hour ago on Selworthy Road, Moss Side. There is armed police and dogs surrounding the area.”
The latest operation came just hours after the Home Secretary warned that members of bomber Salman Abedi’s terror network could still be at large.
CCTV photo issued by Greater Manchester Police of Salman Abedi (Greater Manchester Police/PA)
Amber Rudd said parts of the suicide attacker’s circle were “potentially” unaccounted for, despite optimism that a previous wave of arrests had quelled further threats.
On Saturday night, police issued CCTV stills of Abedi, bespectacled and casually clothed, in a plea for information about his movements between May 18 and the attack.
A matter of hours after he was captured on camera, the 22-year-old was dead, having inflicted an outrage on a pop concert attended predominantly by young girls.
The huge police response that followed saw raids in several cities as counter-terror efforts were focused on cornering his suspected criminal ring.
Armed police have been on duty around the country (David Mirzoeff/PA)
Another Moss Side resident, who did not want to be named, said he heard a loud explosion “like a bomb going off” and saw a number of police vans in the street.
He said a group of young Middle Eastern men moved into the address around six months ago.
“There’s a group of them knocking about with each other – they’re from the Middle East,” he added.
“A couple of them dress in the traditional Muslim robes. There was always a lot of coming and going in and out of that building. Every time I’ve been outside my flat there’s someone there or a group of them sitting outside in a car.”
As the huge counter-terror operation continued, the NHS said 54 people injured in the attack were still being treated in eight hospitals with 19 receiving critical care.
A total of 116 people required hospital care in the wake of the massacre, police previously said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here