Updated May 25, 2017 13:39:47

Photo: Ramadan Abedi has denied his son Salman's involvement in Monday night's Manchester bombing. (AP)

The man suspected of carrying out the deadly attack at a Manchester concert was not a member of Islamic State and did not hold extremist beliefs, according to his father who himself has been arrested in Libya.

Ramadan Abedi and his 18-year-old son Hashim Abedi were arrested by Libyan counter-terrorist officers in Tripoli, who say Hashim has confessed that both he and his brother Salman — accused of the suicide bombing — were a part of IS.

But Ramadan Abedi denied Salman's involvement in Monday night's attack.

"Salman doesn't belong to any organisation, and I know that he doesn't belong to any, there was nothing hidden, because I had open discussions with him about anything he wanted to understand," Mr Abedi said.

"The situation is normal but the family is a bit confused because Salman doesn't have this ideology, he doesn't believe in these [extremist] beliefs.

"I'm sure that Salman didn't carry out such an act but there are hidden hands behind this, security authorities doing something against the Libyan community especially the youth there."

Photo: Hashim Abedi, the younger brother of suspected Manchester bomber Salman, holding a gun. (Facebook: Yousef Hannaa)

Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old British citizen born to Libyan parents, died in the attack, which targeted young fans of Ariana Grande as they left her concert.

Here is what we know so far about the man suspected of killing 22 people with a nail bomb in Manchester at an Ariana Grande concert.

Ramadan Abedi said he was surprised to hear via television news his son was accused.

"In the beginning one of the girls went online and she saw the news that Salman was accused of the bombing in Manchester," he said.

"I turned on the TV and saw BBC World, I followed the news, they said it was only a suspicion and I was waiting for more news until the morning, but they didn't broadcast anything more.

"The second day at around noon, at 1:00 in the afternoon I saw the news that Salman Abedi was suspected.

"In fact I didn't expect that to happen ever, he didn't say that he was going to Manchester to stay in Manchester, he said that he was going to Umrah ... then I heard what the Chief Executive of Manchester said, he said that 'we suspect Salman'.

"They suspected Salman Abedi from 21 Elsmore road, which is where we lived.

As authorities hunt a possible terrorist cell, ABC's Philip Williams says questions will no doubt be asked about how authorities missed this deadly attack.

"The security forces raided the home and broke down the door, scaring the neighbours, and they thought that the house contained explosives, even spreading a rumour that it had, but there weren't any. Even the police said there were no explosives.

"We condemn these terrorist acts on civilians, innocent people.

"I want to add that we're not a part of these acts, we lived in this society, the English society and even my neighbours on the BBC praised me and my son and my family.

"And they know me and my sons well. For this reason we didn't expect that the security forces would do something like this [attack on the house]."

Photo: Hashim Ramadan Abedi was arrested on Tuesday for alleged links to the Islamic State extremist group. (AP)

ABC/Reuters

Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, united-kingdom

First posted May 25, 2017 08:22:32