UK launches review after Manchester bomb plotter attacks prison guards with hot cooking oil
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Hashem Abedi threw hot cooking oil over three prison guards before stabbing them with “homemade weapons”.
PHOTO: GMPOLICE/X
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LONDON – Britain’s Justice Ministry launched a review on April 13 after the jailed plotter of the deadly 2017 Manchester bombing was accused of throwing hot oil over prison guards and attacking them with makeshift weapons.
Hashem Abedi – who is serving a life sentence over the bombing that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert – threw hot cooking oil over three officers on April 12 before stabbing them with “homemade weapons”, according to the Prison Officers’ Association trade union.
Two of the officers at the prison near Durham, northern England, remain in hospital with serious injuries, while a third has been discharged, the police said.
“An investigation is under way following a serious assault that occurred at HMP Frankland in Durham today,” regional counter-terror police leading an investigation said on April 12. “The suspect has been detained.”
On April 13, a Justice Ministry spokesperson said there would be “a full review into how this attack was able to happen, alongside the separate police inquiry”.
They added: “The government will do whatever it takes to keep our hard-working staff safe.”
In May 2017, Hashem’s brother Salman Abedi detonated a homemade suicide bomb at the pop concert in Manchester Arena, targeting crowds of mostly young people.
Hashem was jailed for life with a minimum term of 55 years for playing an “integral part” in the attack, which was inspired by the ISIS group.
Britain’s Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “appalled” by the attack on the prison guards.
“I will be pushing for the strongest possible punishment,” she said on social media on April 12. “Violence against our staff will never be tolerated.” AFP
