Manchester attack: Police not sharing information with US
NEW YORK TIMESPolice investigating the Manchester Arena bomb attack have stopped sharing information with the US after leaks to the media.
UK officials were outraged when photos appearing to show debris from the attack appeared in the New York Times.It came after the name of bomber Salman Abedi was leaked to US media just hours after the attack, which left 22 dead.Theresa May said she would tell Donald Trump at a Nato meeting that shared intelligence "must remain secure".Meanwhile, the Queen has been to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital visiting some of the injured as well as members of the emergency services.While there she paid tribute to Manchester and the "extraordinary" way the city had responded to Monday's attack at an Ariana Grande concert, in which 116 people were also injured.Families' distress
In total eight men are now in custody following the bombing carried out by Manchester-born Abedi, a 22-year-old from a family of Libyan origin.The arrests have been "significant" while searches of premises have also yielded items "important to the investigation", Greater Manchester Police said.It has also emerged two people who had known Abedi at college made separate calls to a hotline to warn the police about his extremist views.A Whitehall source said Abedi was one of a "pool" of former subjects of interest whose risk remained "subject to review" by the security service and its partners.In other developments:
- A minute's silence was held at 11:00 BST in remembrance of those who lost their lives or were affected by the attack
- Two men were arrested following a search of an address in the Withington area of Greater Manchester on Thursday morning, taking the number of people held to eight
- Manchester City and Manchester United have jointly pledged £1m to an emergency fund set up to support the victims
- A possible suspicious package was declared safe after army bomb disposal experts were called to a street in Hulme, near Manchester city centre
- The Conservatives and Labour are to resume general election campaigning on Friday
Greater Manchester Police hope to resume normal intelligence relationships - a two-way flow of information - soon but is currently "furious", the BBC understands.Its chief constable Ian Hopkins said the recent leak had caused "much distress for families that are already suffering terribly with their loss.".The force - which is leading the investigation on the ground - gives its information to National Counter-Terrorism, which then shares it across government and - because of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement - with the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
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