Neighbours of the suspected perpetrator of a bombing at US singer Ariana Grande’s Manchester concert have described him as a rude social recluse.

Salman Abedi, 22, died in the Monday evening (UK time) attack on the Manchester Arena that killed 22 people and left 59 injured, with several people still unaccounted for.

Abedi, who was born in Manchester to Libyan refugee parents in 1994, was believed to have travelled from London to Manchester by train before carrying out the attack.

A school friend told The Times Abedi had only recently returned from a trip to Libya, where it is believed his parents had been living since 2011.

“He went to Libya three weeks ago and came back, like, days ago,” the friend said.

There were concerns Abedi, who was reportedly known to UK security services, had visited Syria during his trip to Libya.

About 70 police officers raided Abedi’s home in Fallowfield, Manchester, on Tuesday (UK time).

Police also arrested a 23-year-old man, believed to be Abedi’s older brother Ismail, who remains in custody.

Abedi was a university dropout who had studied business and management at Salford University.

His former landlord’s nephew told The Times he “used to be a regular kid, drinking and going out, until a year ago [when] he dropped off the radar”.

Nearby Fallowfield resident Alan Kinsey described an Asian man in his mid-20s who had been living alone in red brick semi on Elsmore Road for the past nine months.

Mr Kinsey told Metro he noticed the man had a number of guests, and was most frequently visited by a man in a Toyota Yaris who often gave Abedi a lift.

Mr Kinsey said his only interaction with the man believed to be Abedi occurred when Mr Kinsey complained about a car being parked poorly.

He said Abedi responded by giving him the middle finger.

Neighbour Lina Ahmed, 21, told The Sun Abedi had recently grown a beard and said she had seen him loudly chanting Islamic prayers in the street months prior to the attack.

“He was saying ‘There is only one God and the prophet Mohammed is his messenger’,” Ms Ahmed told The Times.

Meanwhile, neighbour Leon Hall told The Sun Abedi had “an attitude problem”.

Abedi’s family ‘distraught’

Aebdi’s parents, who reportedly moved from Libya to escape the repressive Gaddafi regime, were known by the community to be strongly opposed to Islamic State (IS), which had claimed responsibility for the attack.

“He [Abedi’s father Abu Ismael] used to do the five and call the adhan. He has an absolutely beautiful voice,” a member of Manchester’s Libyan community told The Guardian.

“[Abu] will be terribly distraught.

“He was always very confrontational with jihadi ideology, and this Isis thing isn’t even jihad, it’s criminality. The family will be devastated.”

Did he act alone?

Now the main concern for police is whether Abedi acted alone.

“Determining whether or not the SoI [subject of interest] is part of a wider group is our main priority right now,” a Whitehall security official said.

While it is understood that the suicide bomber acted as a lone wolf, IS seized the opportunity to claim responsibility for the attack, labelling him a “soldier of the Khilafah”.

Ms May has also raised the terror threat to “critical”, signalling that a terror attack may be “imminent”.