Manchester bomber asked mother to ‘forgive me’

Manchester bomber Salman Abedi phoned his mother and said “forgive me” hours before the attack which killed 22 people, according to Libyan security forces.

It has also emerged that his brother, Hashim, who is being held in Tripoli, claimed that Abedi learned to build bombs from the internet and was “hoping to seek victory for the Islamic State”.

The revelations emerged as, in Ireland, Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan urged that the force retain responsibility for both state security and policing.