By , Andy Hughes
Published June 01, 2017
Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi had links to an Islamic State cell which operated in the city, and knew one of the terror group's most prolific recruiters, Sky News can reveal.
Our investigation reveals how Abedi grew up on the same housing estates in south Manchester as a group of young men who radicalized each other - with some fighting for IS in Syria and Iraq.
Using documents obtained from inside Islamic State, we have been investigating for a year how this group was radicalized, and who did the radicalizing.
Information in the 'IS Files' - a huge cache of documents obtained by Sky News - shows how a baby-faced IS fighter called Raphael Hostey, from Moss Side in the south of the city, sponsored hundreds of terror recruits.
Abedi and Hostey hung around on the same estates and worshiped in the same Didsbury mosque, before they became disaffected with life in the West.
Counter-terrorism sources have told Sky News they have established a "significant" connection between the two men as they investigate the murder of 22 concertgoers and search for possible accomplices.
Although his death has not been confirmed by UK authorities, Hostey is thought to have been killed by a drone strike in Syria last year at the age of 24.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/manchester-attack-bombing-suspect-linked-to-top-uk-isis-recruiter