The explosion of a taxi outside a hospital in Liverpool, northern England, on Monday was called a “terrorist act” by police, as the driver was hailed as a “hero” who avoided a “disaster “. Three men – aged 29, 26 and 21 – were arrested as early as Sunday in Liverpool’s Kensington area under the Terrorism Act, and at a press conference on Monday, police said the arrest of fourth 20-year-old man.
The police indicated to consider the facts as a “terrorist act” while specifying that the motivations of this act “remain to be determined”. In the afternoon, the United Kingdom raised the level of the terrorist threat to “serious” by the voice of the British Home Secretary Priti Pate.
A few hundred meters from a national place of meditation
The passenger had taken the taxi in this avenue, asking the driver to take him to the women’s hospital, located a 10-minute drive away. It is in front of this hospital that the explosion occurred Sunday morning, when the United Kingdom commemorated the victims of the wars, on the occasion of “Remembrance Sunday”. It occurred just before 11 a.m. London time when the nation was silently praying, and a few hundred yards from Liverpool Cathedral where hundreds of soldiers, veterans and members of the public were gathered for a tribute. .
“We cannot establish a link at this stage but it is an avenue of inquiry that we are exploring,” Russ Jackson, in charge of the region’s counterterrorism police, told a press conference on Monday of these commemorations. He said investigators believed they knew the identity of the passenger but did not wish to reveal it for the moment.
The taxi driver, injured, considered a “hero”
Injured in the explosion, the taxi driver has been called a “hero” by politicians and tabloids who said he had helped prevent deaths. “This is an ongoing investigation, so I cannot comment on the details or say exactly what type of incident it is (…) but it appears that the taxi driver in question is behaved with incredible presence of mind and bravery, “Prime Minister Boris Johnson said during a visit to a London medical center.
According to The Daily Mail, the driver noticed that his passenger looked “suspicious” and locked him in the taxi, before escaping. “The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, managed to avert what could have been an absolutely horrific disaster at the hospital,” Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson told the BBC on Monday, confirming he had “locked the doors” of the vehicle. He left the hospital where he was being treated, police said. “It reminds us that the threat of terrorism has not gone away,” Conservative Party Chairman Oliver Dowden told SkyNews on Monday morning. The counterterrorism police are in charge of the investigation with, according to the BBC, the support of the intelligence service MI5.
The risk of a “highly probable” attack
The local police explained that they were alerted around 11 a.m. and immediately intervened. Images showed large gray smoke billowing from the scene of the explosion and a charred vehicle. Phil Garrigan, Merseyside Fire Chief, said the vehicle fire was “fully developed” when emergency vehicles arrived. The police urged the population to “remain calm but vigilant”.
Monday afternoon, the United Kingdom therefore raised the level of terrorist threat to “serious”. “We are increasing the level of threat from significant to serious,” the Home Secretary said on television, stressing that the Liverpool events represent the second act considered terrorist after the murder of MP David Amess ago a month. This threat level means that the risk of attack is considered “highly probable”.
–
