LONDON, Nov.5 (Xinhua) -- Officials from Britain's secret service MI5 missed key intelligence warnings that could have stopped the Manchester Arena terror attack that left 22 people dead, it was claimed Sunday.
The Sunday Times newspaper said the warnings could have put suicide bomber Salman Abedi under surveillance as a "high-priority" before his attack in May, the worst act of terrorism in Britain since the London bombings in 2005.
The newspaper report claimed the security service received at least two items of intelligence regarding Abedi's "suspicious behavior" that indicated he posed a serious threat before his suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena which came at the end of a concert by the U.S. singer Ariana Grande.
The newspaper said the failure to act properly on the intelligence has emerged in an MI5 internal review that has triggered deep concerns within the intelligence community about whether the attack could have been stopped.
The Sunday Times said the findings are thought to have been sent several days ago to Britain's top interior minister, the Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
The report added the failure has placed the position of the MI5 director-general Andrew Parker under close scrutiny, saying the Abedi bombing represents the most significant intelligence failure of the five terror attacks in Britain this year.
The newspaper said a detailed analysis of all intelligence received in the build-up to the Manchester attack is understood to focus on information passed to an MI5 regional office. While the information was not considered of high significance when received, it was judged upon reassessment to be enough to have raised serious alarms about Abedi.
An unnamed security source is quoted by the Times saying: "There were a few calls made regarding several bits of intelligence which, if judged differently at the time, would have turned Abedi into a high-priority case. And when a target is judged a high priority, you should place them under surveillance."
The newspaper said a second source told them that the key intelligence received by MI5 was not deemed "definitive" of a specific plot.
The review, which examined the Manchester bombing and the London Bridge attack in June, was commissioned by Parker and the London's Metropolitan police commissioner Cressida Dick. A redacted version of the review is expected to be made public this month, added the Sunday Times.
