UK: Lone wolf terror attacks threaten holiday season after hospital blast

The car explosion outside Liverpool hospital has triggered fear among security officials over lone-wolf terror attacks threatening the upcoming holiday season of Christmas. The Sun reported that UK spy chiefs said that it is 'highly likely' fanatics will attempt atrocities in the wake of a blast outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital. On Monday, the security officials raised the terror risk in the UK from 'substantial' to 'severe' as warnings grew that crowded places and festive markets could be targeted. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel reportedly said that the decision was taken because Sunday’s strike was “the second in a month”. It followed the slaying of Tory MP David Amess at his constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex on 15 October.

UK raises terror threat level to 'severe' after bomb explosion 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the car blast at Liverpool Women’s Hospital was “a stark reminder of the need for us all to remain utterly vigilant”. Meanwhile, at least four men who were arrested under terrorism charges after a bomb exploded outside women’s hospital in Liverpool on Remembrance Sunday have been released without charge. 

As per BBC, shortly after the police named the man who died when the homemade device exploded in the back of a taxi as Emad Al Swealmeen on November 14, the four men arrested in the Kensington area of Liverpool on Sunday were released from police custody. Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North West, reportedly said that following the interviews of four men aged 21, 26, 29 and 20, “we are satisfied with the accounts they have provided and they have been released from police custody.” 

Additionally, Security minister Damian Hinds told BBC Breakfast, “There's always the possibility that further links can be detected. People sometimes talk about lone wolves and so on - people are rarely totally alone because they talk to others and so on. We have to leave time and space for the police to do their investigation."

Al Swealmeen converted to Christianity in 2017

It is also understood that the 32-year-old suspect was an asylum seeker who converted to Christianity back in 2017. The media report also stated that the police said, “important evidence” has been found at an address that Al Swealmeen rented. In an update on Monday evening, Jackson said that the property at Rutland Avenue near Sefton Park, in the southeast of the city was “becoming central to the investigation.”

(IMAGE: AP)