LONDON (AP) — The Royal Navy rescued the Manchester Arena suicide bomber and his younger brother from the civil war in Libya three years before he killed 22 people at the Ariana Grande pop concert.

Britain's Daily Mail reported Tuesday that the HMS Enterprise picked up Salman Abedi and more than 100 other British citizens from the Libyan coast and took them to Malta, where they flew back to the U.K.

Abedi, a 22-year-old Briton of Libyan descent, blew himself up as fans were leaving Grande's concert at Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017. Twenty-two concertgoers were killed, and police say more than 800 people were left "with physical and deep psychological injuries."

Abedi's brother, Hashem, is in jail in Libya. British government requests for his extradition to face trial have been refused.