Man who helped bomb 2017 Ariana Grande concert charged with attempted murder for prison guard attack

The brother of the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a 2017 Ariana Grande concert has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly attacking four prison guards with a makeshift blade and hot cooking oil at a high-security lockup, according to reports.

Hashem Abedi, 28, left three of the officers hospitalized with serious injuries after the attack on April 11 at the high-security HMP Frankland in Durham, England, the Guardian reported.

Abedi allegedly attacked the four guards by dumping hot cooking oil over them and stabbing them with a makeshift knife, the outlet said.

He has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of assault for the attack on the fourth officer, authorities told the outlet.

Abedi also faces additional charges of unauthorized possession of a knife, according to reports.

Abedi was sentenced in 2020 to at least 55 years in prison after being found guilty of 22 murders for helping his brother, Salman Abedi, plan a mass slaughter at the Manchester Arena show that also left hundreds injured.

He was transferred to another prison after the attack on the guards and can be prosecuted under counterterrorism protocol — allowing prosecutors to argue the assault was terror-motivated, BBC reported.

Counter Terrorism Policing North East carried out a “thorough investigation” of the incident with Durham Constabulary and HMP Frankland, the authority told the outlet.

Although Abedi was in Libya during the May 2017 attack, he was convicted of helping his brother plot and prepare his massacre at the Manchester Arena, where seven of the dead were children as young as 8 years old.

Abedi helped source, buy, stockpile, and transport the components for his brother’s bomb, using a number of phones, vehicles, and addresses in preparation for the attack, prosecutors said.

“He has blood on his hands even if he didn’t detonate the bomb,” Max Hill, Britain’s director of public prosecutions, said at his trial.

Another 237 concertgoers were injured, and 670 survivors reported suffering from psychological trauma. The “No Tears Left to Cry” singer, Grande, has also said she suffers post-traumatic stress disorder.

Abedi will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Sept 18, records indicate.

The Ministry of Justice will do a full investigation into the incident.