The UK terror threat level has been raised to “severe” following an explosion outside a Liverpool hospital, deemed a terrorist incident by police.
Shortly before 11:00 GMT on 14 November 2021, Remembrance Sunday, a taxi pulled up outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital and exploded into flames.
The taxi’s passenger was killed in the blast, and police have confirmed that the individual manufactured and brought the homemade explosive device into the the taxi. The cab’s driver, David Perry, survived the blast and was hospitalised for his injuries.
The motivation for the attack remains unclear. Four men were arrested under terrorism laws in relation to the explosion, and have since been released without charge.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said the threat level had been raised from “substantial” to “severe”, meaning an attack is highly likely, because the explosion in Liverpool was the second incident in a month (Oct-Nov 2021).
The death of Conservative MP Sir David Amess, who was stabbed multiple times during a meeting with his constituents in Essex on 15 October 2021, has been treated as a terrorist incident by police.
The man who was killed in the explosion outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital has been named by police as 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen. It has been reported that he was an asylum seeker who converted to Christianity in 2017, and was not known to M15 before the incident.
Since 2011, there have been 14 incidents in the UK where explosive violence have been used where at least one person has been killed/injured. 301 civilians have been harmed from such violence, with 25 deaths (including perpetrators).
11 of the 14 incidents in involved Improvised Explosive Devices, with the remaining three seeing grenades deployed. 10 of the incidents were apparently directly targeted at civilians, with 4 aimed at State power.
In total, 9 UK State (armed) actors have been killed or injured in these attacks, with three fatalities. Three attacks were against police, and one against a prison officer.
One incident was a boy who harmed himself building a homemade explosives. One was a man who committed suicide by blowing himself up in 2011.
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