World News | UK Hospital Terror-bomb Was Homemade with Ball Bearings, Confirm Police

London, Nov 19 (PTI) The homemade explosive used by a 32-year-old suspect in a terror attack outside Liverpool Women's Hospital was made up of ball bearings and its shrapnel had the potential to cause significant death or injury, UK Police investigating the incident said on Friday.

The terror attack by asylum seeker Emad Al Swealmee, who was originally from Iraq, on Sunday ended in his own death as the taxi he used exploded with the homemade bomb.

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The UK Counter-Terror Police, which has been investigating the circumstances behind the explosion, said it remains unclear why the device exploded the way it did. The attack led to the UK raising its terror threat level from substantial to severe.

"It was made using homemade explosives and had ball bearings attached to it which would have acted as shrapnel. Had it detonated in different circumstances we believe it would have caused significant injury or death," said Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, Head of Counter Terrorism Police North West.

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"We still do not know how or why the device exploded when it did, but we are not discounting it being completely unintentional, and it is a possibility that the movement of the vehicle or its stopping caused the ignition," he said.

Earlier, the police had revealed that Al Swealmeen had been purchasing items for his homemade explosive for months.

"We are spending considerable time seeking to understand the way the purchases for the ingredients to make the device were made. This is complicated because purchases have spanned many months and Al Swealmeen has used many aliases," said Jackson.

"We are confident however that in time we will get a full picture of what purchases were made and how, and if anyone else was involved or knew what Al Swealmeen was up to,” he added.

Officers have now spoken to the brother of Al Swealmeen, which they say had given them an insight into his early years and an understanding of Al Swealmeen's life and his recent state of mind, which is an important line of investigation as there are reported to have been some mental health issues.

"The investigation is still moving at a very fast pace and will continue into the weekend and the coming weeks," noted Jackson, who also confirmed that investigators have found no link between this attack and the Manchester Arena suicide bombing in 2017.

Al Swealmeen is understood to have arrived in the UK from the Middle East in 2014 and had an application for asylum rejected the following year, but remained in the country.

He is believed to have converted from Islam to Christianity at Liverpool's Anglican cathedral in 2017.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)