SALMAN Abedi, named by the authorities as the Manchester suicide bomber, was a university drop-out, who was born locally and whose parents were Libyan refugees who fled the Gaddafi regime.

The 22-year-old was, according to sources, known to the security services but they did not believe he posed an immediate threat.

Abedi was registered as having lived with his mother Samia Tabbal, father Ramadan Abedi and a brother, Ismail Abedi, who was born in Westminster in 1993.

He is also thought to have a younger brother, named as Hashim Abedi, and a sister Jomana, whose Facebook profile suggests she is from Tripoli and lives in Manchester.

A childhood friend of Ismail, who asked not to be named, described Abedi as "normal" and said his family were known to the Libyan community in the city.

He also claimed Ismail taught Arabic classes at a local mosque, which his father was also said to visit.

Officials at the Manchester Islamic Centre, known as the Didsbury Mosque, confirmed that Abedi “probably” attended there.

Businessman Fawaz Haffar, a trustee of the mosque, said he did not know the bomber or recall seeing him at the place of worship but suggested he "probably" did attend given his father used to perform the azan, the call to prayer, and his brother had attended as a volunteer.

A source said Abedi had been a student at Salford University on a business and management course but after two or three years dropped out and did not complete his degree.

Abedi is registered as living at Elsmore Road in Fallowfield, to the south of the city, as recently as last year.

On Tuesday, the police raided a downstairs red-bricked semi-detached property as they hunted for any possible accomplices. Officers ordered neighbouring residents indoors as they carried out a controlled explosion to gain entry.

One, Alan Kinsey, 52, said there were as many as 30 to 40 officers at the scene. They placed a black strip down the door, retreated and then a moment later a loud explosion occurred.

Armed officers then took police dogs into the house, he explained, but added: "They didn't find anybody in the house at the time. We kept watching and they didn't bring anybody out."

Another local Simon Turner, 46, also said he did not seen anyone arrested but noted how officers in white forensics suits went in and out of the property.

Neighbours recalled Abedi as an abrasive, tall and skinny young man, who was little known in the neighbourhood but often seen in traditional Islamic clothing.

It was unclear whether or not he lived alone at the Fallowfield address, where a flag - possibly Palestinian - was occasionally seen flying from an upstairs window.

Neighbours said the young man had many visitors; one man dropped by regularly to pick him up in a Toyota Yaris.

Abedi is thought to have lived at a number of addresses in the area, including one in nearby Wilbraham Road, where plain clothes police arrested a 23-year-old man on Tuesday.

A witness, Nick Yates, 27, a local graphic designer, explained how he was leaving a nearby Morrison's shopping centre when he saw the police pounce.

"A black Mercedes van pulled up on the side of the road with six to eight police officers, all in plain clothes but wearing black caps with checkerboard marking.

“Then as I crossed the road I saw a guy in handcuffs, sat on the floor against the wall. I didn't get the impression that he looked overly concerned,” added Mr Yates.

Meantime, the police said they had also executed a search warrant at a property in Carlton Road, Whalley Range, a mile from the Fallowfield address.

Officers stood guard outside the entrance of the four-storey building while more uniformed police and detectives in suits entered it.

Neighbour Akram Ramadan, 49, said a newly-wed couple had moved into the flat below his own around nine months ago. He described the man, who he knew as Ismail, as being in his mid-to-late 20s and was a Mancunian of Libyan descent.

Mr Ramadan said his neighbour had introduced him to his father once but he believed Ismail’s parents had recently returned to Libya.

While the so-called Islamic State terror group claimed it was behind the Manchester bombing, US intelligence chiefs stressed how this had not been verified.