The United Kingdom has declared Sunday’s taxi bombing in Liverpool a terror incident, and has raised its threat level to “severe”—which means another attack could be “highly likely”.
“The decision has been driven by two terrorist incidents in the past month, reflecting the diverse, complex and volatile nature of the terrorist threat in the UK,” the Home Office said.
The attacker, who died in the bombing, was of Middle Eastern origin, the Telegraph reported, and was not known to UK security services. His intentions are not yet known: Some reports say he had ordered a taxi to take him to the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, but others say he wanted to go to the annual service at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral but road closures forced him to go to the hospital.
In a stroke of luck, the taxi driver noticed abnormal behaviour from the man and managed to escape the car, but not before locking him inside it so he wouldn’t be able to hurt anybody else. The driver, David Perry, has been hailed as a hero by Liverpool mayor Joanne Anderson. "The taxi driver in his heroic efforts has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster...[he] locked the doors - our thanks go to him."
The bomber was the only one killed in the attack. The driver got away with light injuries and has already been discharged from hospital.
Last month, Conservative MP Davis Amess was stabbed to death in his home constituency of Essex.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said the threat level had been raised by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre. “It is important that the public remains alert to the threat from terrorism but not alarmed. I urge anyone with information or who suspects any suspicious activity to report it to the police,” she said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired an emergency Cobra meeting earlier in response to the explosion which the home secretary attended.
