UK raises terror threat level after Liverpool taxi blast
Police have named the suspect behind a bomb attack at Liverpool hospital as Britain raised its terror threat level to “severe”.
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Britain raised its terrorism threat level on Monday, hours after an improvised explosion outside a hospital in Liverpool, as police named the suspect believed to have made the homemade device before dying in the blast.
Interior Minister Priti Patel said intelligence officials had increased the threat assessment to “severe” – the second-highest level, meaning an attack is highly likely – following the second terror incident in a month.
Last month, veteran British MP David Amess was stabbed to death as he met constituents in southeast England, in an attack that prosecutors have said had a “terrorist connection”.
The blast outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital shortly before 11am local time on Remembrance Sunday destroyed a taxi and killed the passenger suspected of making the crude device, but only injured the driver.
Police in northwest England said within hours that the blast was being treated as a “terrorist incident” and on Monday evening named the deceased suspect.
“Our enquiries are very much ongoing but at this stage we strongly believe that the deceased is 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen,” senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Meeks said in a statement.
He gave few other details, but noted Al Swealmeen was connected to two addresses police raided following the incident, living at one while recently renting another where officers have recovered “significant items”.
“We continue to appeal for any information about this incident and, now that we have released his name, any information that the public may have about Al Swealmeen, no matter how small, may be of great assistance to us,” Meeks said.
The motor racing enthusiast is said to have changed his first name to Enzo after Ferrari founder, Enzo Ferrari, reports the MailOnline.
The suspect has connections to both Rutland Avenue and Sutcliffe Street properties – where police have been searching for clues.
Police said that they have recovered “significant items” from the home on Rutland Avenue that Almeni rented.
Almeni is said to have been an asylum seeker who converted to Christianity and was once arrested for carrying a knife. It’s understood he arrived in the UK several years ago, and has mostly lived in Liverpool.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Liverpool attack was a “stark reminder of the need for us all to remain utterly vigilant”.
“But what yesterday showed us all is that the British people will never be cowed by terrorism. We will never give in to those who seek to divide us with senseless acts,” he added.
Russ Jackson, in charge of counter-terrorism policing in northwest England, said the motive for the Liverpool attack was unclear.
But he told reporters that the improvised explosive device, which ignited in the cab, turning it into a fireball, was “built by the passenger” who died.
Mr Jackson added that it was being treated as a “terrorist incident”.
The explosion came just minutes before a Remembrance Sunday service at nearby Liverpool Cathedral, prompting speculation the event was the intended target.
“We cannot at this time draw any connection with this but it is a line of inquiry, which we are pursuing,” said Mr Jackson.
Three men aged 21, 26 and 29 were arrested under the Terrorism Act soon after the explosion in the nearby Kensington area of the city and were taken for questioning.
A fourth man, aged 20, was detained earlier on Monday, Jackson said, adding that “significant items” had been found at a second address in Sefton Park, near Kensington.
REMARKABLE ESCAPE
The blast and fireball sent thick smoke into the air just seconds before Britain fell silent in tribute to its war dead and military veterans at 11am local time.
There was immediate praise for the taxi driver, who reportedly locked the passenger — a man — inside the cab after growing suspicious about his intentions.
The passenger had wanted to go to the annual service at Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral, according to UK media quoting investigators and friends of the cabbie.
But road closures forced the taxi to detour and they ended up at the nearby hospital, where the bomb went off just after the driver had escaped, the Daily Mail reported.
Johnson, who convened a government emergencies and contingencies meeting in response to the blast, said it appeared the driver “did behave with incredible presence of mind and bravery”.
Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson said: “The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital.
“We knew that the taxi driver had stood out and locked the doors, we knew that early on,” she told BBC radio.
Jackson gave few details but said the taxi driver picked up the passenger from the Kensington area.
“As the taxi approached the drop-off point at the hospital, an explosion occurred from within the car. This quickly engulfed it in flames,” he added.
The taxi driver was being hailed a hero after thwarting the attack outside a UK hospital.
The driver, identified as Dave Perry, jumped out of the cab and locked the doors as the vehicle exploded in front of Liverpool Women’s Hospital killing only the male passenger that carried the bomb, The Sun reports.
Mr Perry was in a stable condition in hospital with burns and shrapnel injuries, including damage to his ears.
“Remarkably, the taxi driver escaped from the cab. He’s been treated for his injuries that he sustained and he’s now been released from hospital,” Mr Jackson said.
Some 2,000 people attended the religious service of remembrance, one of the biggest outside London, and a military parade, according to the Liverpool Echo newspaper.
Senior Conservative politician Oliver Dowden said the driver’s actions contrasted with “the cowardice of terrorist attacks”.
“Clearly we’ll have to see exactly what happened there,” the ruling party’s co-chairman told Sky News, stressing reports of the driver’s response had to be confirmed.
“But if that is the case, that’s another example of true bravery and courage,” Mr Dowden said.
The scene at the hospital remained cordoned off on Monday, as did the streets around the two properties under investigation, where forensics officers in white suits were seen.
Britain had downgraded its terrorism threat level from “severe” to “substantial” in February. It had been raised last November after a deadly shooting rampage in Vienna and several attacks in France. All were blamed on Islamist extremists.