Police investigating the Manchester bombing have found a car they say may be “significant” to their inquiry.

Officers have evacuated an area of the city while they assess the white Nissan Micra in Rusholme and are asking people to avoid the Banff Road area.

It comes as the Duke of Cambridge visited the city to meet some of the police officers who were first on the scene following the attack.
Suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 people at Manchester Arena on 22 May.

Speaking about the car find, Det Ch Supt Russ Jackson said it was “potentially a significant development”. “We are very interested in anything people can tell us about the movements of this car, and who was in it, over the past months,” he added. “We are also interested in any information about who may have had access to the car or who may have gone to and from it.”

The Manchester Royal Infirmary remained open but people had been evacuated from Ronald McDonald House, which accommodates families of patients at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

Police also released new CCTV images of Abedi before the attack at Manchester Arena.

Meanwhile, police said they had so far found no record of any calls to the anti-terrorist hotline about Abedi. After the attack, a community worker said two people had made separate calls to the hotline about five years ago to raise concerns about his behaviour.

Meanwhile, two of the bomber’s cousins have said they had no idea he was planning his attack. Isaac and Abz Forjani were arrested by police after the attack – and were questioned for a week – but have since been released without charge. They say they did not know about Abedi’s extremist views – adding that he may have been radicalised abroad.
Isaac, 24, said: “It’s not easy being connected to 22 lost, innocent lives. “The fact that the person that did this is related to us by blood is something that’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life. “My thoughts are with the families of the victims. I really do feel for them. “We went in, we could come out, we can try and move on with our lives. They’ve lost their loved ones.”

The two brothers said they last saw Abedi three months before the attack, when he got his hair trimmed at Abz Forjani’s barber shop.

Abz, 21, said he had a “pretty close relationship” with Abedi. He said his cousin was not part of “a big network”. He said: “I believe it was all done by one man, (who) developed some sort of thoughts in the past few years which he kept to himself, secretly to himself. “He never shared it with any members of the family – if he would of, we could have done something to stop that happening. “He never admitted extremist views – it was just political opinions, so it wasn’t focused or aimed at a particular group,” Abz added. “The thought was he was just a religious man taking it way too far, becoming judgemental maybe. “There’s never been a hint of extremism.”

The brothers also insisted they shared the same British values as everyone else. “We’re Mancunians ourselves,” said Isaac.

The pair’s younger brother Alharth, 19, is still in custody.

Sixteen people have been arrested over the bombing at an Ariana Grande concert and 10 remain in custody.

Prince William met Chief Constable Ian Hopkins on his visit to the Greater Manchester Police headquarters, before speaking to some of the first officers to arrive on the scene after the bomb went off. He also met taxi drivers and other members of the community who responded to the attack during a visit to Manchester Cathedral, where he signed a book of condolence.

His visit comes after the Queen visited the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where some of the 116 people inured in the attack were being treated, last week.