Great Britain
Deadly car explosion in Liverpool remains a mystery
Police officers in Liverpool: three men were arrested on suspicion of terrorism. Photo: Peter Byrne / PA / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
After three suspects have been arrested, there are increasing signs that it may have been a failed attack.
The explosion of a car in Liverpool with one dead and one injured remained a mystery the day after.
A man was killed in the incident on Sunday morning in front of a women’s clinic in the north-west English city when the car went up in flames.
Three men between the ages of 21 and 29 were arrested on suspicion of terrorism. House searches took place in several parts of the city. Roads were still partially blocked on Monday, as reported by the British media. However, the police stressed that they were not ruling out anything about the background to the explosion.
The vehicle is said to have been a taxi. According to the police, the injured person is the driver. He was reportedly released from the hospital on Monday. At first it was unclear who the dead person was. The police only confirm that the victim was male and died on the spot. The identity of the man must first be clarified, it said in a police message.
The media speculated, citing alleged acquaintances of the taxi driver, that the person killed was a passenger who was carrying an explosive device. Accordingly, the driver should have left the car to get to safety and then locked the man. The “Sun” already celebrated the driver as a “hero”.
These reports were not officially confirmed at first. Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson praised the taxi driver for “his heroic efforts” in an interview with the BBC. He had managed to avert what could have “led to an absolute catastrophe at the hospital”. She did not want to comment on details, but it was known early on that the driver had left the taxi and locked the doors, Anderson continued.
The media identified an event to commemorate those who fell on Remembrance Sunday as a possible target of a foiled attack. Thousands of people were gathered in the nearby cathedral at the time of the explosion, reports said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his condolences to those affected by the “terrible incident”. “I would like to thank the emergency services for their quick response and their professionalism and the police for their ongoing investigation,” wrote Johnson on Twitter.
The investigation was led by the anti-terrorist unit. The domestic intelligence agency MI5 was also reportedly engaged. Initially, nothing was known about a possible motive for the alleged act.