UK says Liverpool taxi blast was a bomb, raises threat level

By JILL LAWLESS and DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government has increased the terror level to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. The move comes after police said a blast in a taxi outside a Liverpool hospital was caused by a homemade bomb. The explosion at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Sunday is being treated as a terrorist incident, but police say the motive remains unclear. The blast killed the passenger, named as 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen, and injured the taxidriver. Russ Jackson, the head of Counterterrorism Policing in northwest England, said the blast involved an improvised explosive device made and carried by the deceased passenger. Four men, thought to be associates of the attacker, have been arrested under the Terrorism Act.