SUICIDE bomber Salman Abedi is believed to have travelled to Syria and become radicalised before returning to the UK to cause carnage at a gig in the city where he was born.

The son of Libyan parents, who reportedly fled their native country and sought refuge in the UK, he is thought to have come back to Britain from Libya just days before the massacre.

Born and raised in Manchester, Abedi grew up in a Muslim household but matured into a university dropout.

He was registered as living at Elsmore Road as recently as last year, where police raided a downstairs red-bricked semi-detached property on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old has "proven" links with Islamic State, according to France's interior minister.

Gerard Collomb told French television that both British and French intelligence services had information that Abedi had been in Syria.

Mr Collomb said: "All of a sudden he travelled to Libya and then most likely to Syria, became radicalised and decided to commit this attack."

Abedi had been a "regular kid", who went out and drank until around a year ago when he "dropped off the radar", the Times reported the bomber's former landlord's nephew as saying,

The paper quoted a friend as saying he had returned from a three-week trip to Libya in recent days.

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

He is thought to have lived at a number of addresses in the area, including one in Wilbraham Road, where plainclothes police made an arrest on Tuesday.

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

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

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

He told the Press Association: "He was always friendly, nothing to suggest (he was violent). He was normal, to be honest."

Abedi is believed to have attended the Manchester Islamic Centre, also known as the Didsbury Mosque.

Sheikh Mohammad Saeed said he believed Abedi had displayed a "face of hate" after the imam gave a sermon denouncing terrorism.

Burnage Academy for Boys confirmed Abedi had been a pupil between 2009 and 2011.

The school did not give any detail about him but described the attack on the Manchester Arena as "appalling".

Abedi studied business and management at Salford University two or three years ago, a source said, but dropped out of the course and did not complete his degree.

The source said Abedi began his course in 2014 and attended lectures for two years but then stopped going.

He would have graduated this summer.

He did not live in university accommodation, had not been in any trouble at the university and was not on any radar for pastoral or social care.

It is understood Abedi was not known to have participated in any clubs or societies during his time in higher education and never met with the resident imam.