LONDON: Homemade bombs that killed a man in a taxi in Liverpool containing ball bearings and will cause “significant injury or death” if it has exploded in a different state, the British police said Friday.
The suspected bomb maker, Emad Al Swearmeen, 32, died when an explosion ripped a taxi where he became a passenger when he stopped outside the Liverpool woman on Sunday morning.
Taxi driver was injured.
Russ Jackson, police chief counterterrorism in the northwest of England, said Friday that the device was “made using homemade explosives and had a ball bearing attached to it that would act as a bullet fraction.” “Is it blown up in different circumstances, we believe it will cause significant injury or death,” he said.
Jackson said the police were investigating whether the bomb had exploded accidentally when the vehicle moved or when stopped.
Police said Al Swearmen, who was originally from Iraq, has spent at least six months buying components for bombs and seems to have acted alone.
Al Swealmeen has submitted asylum’s request in England in 2014, but was rejected, the authorities said.
Klergy in two Liverpool churches said Al Sweameen had converted to Islam to Christianity.
The police have also confirmed that Al Sweameen was treated in the past for mental illness.
Jackson said the detective had spoken with a brother of the suspected bomber, who had given the police “understanding of the life of Al Swealmeen and his recent thoughts, which are important investigative lines.” The UK’s official threat level was increased from substantial to severe – meaning the attack was very possible – after the explosion, which occurred on Sunday warnings, when services were held to remember those who had died in the war.
Taxi bombs can cause damage to ‘significant’: British police
