LONDON: British police have released four men arrested under terrorism laws by detectives investigating a homemade bomb explosion in a Liverpool taxi, as they work to understand the motives of the suspected bomber, who died in the blast.
Police have named the bomber as 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen, who came to Britain as an asylum-seeker several years ago and had converted to Christianity in 2017.
Al Swealmeen was killed and a taxi driver injured when a blast ripped through the vehicle as it pulled up outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Sunday morning.
Police have called the blast a terrorist act, but say they are still working to determine the motive.
Four men in their 20s who had been detained under the Terrorism Act were released late Monday. Russ Jackson, the head of counterterrorism policing for northwest England, said that “following interviews with the arrested men, we are satisfied with the accounts they have provided and they have been released from police custody.”
Jackson said that police now had “a much greater understanding of the component parts of the device, how they were obtained and how the parts are likely to have been assembled.” But he said “there is a considerable way to go to understand how this incident was planned, prepared for and how it happened.”
Britain’s official threat level was raised from substantial to severe — meaning an attack is highly likely — following the blast, the UK’s second fatal incident in a month. Conservative lawmaker David Amess was stabbed to death in October in what police said was an act of terrorism.
UK police release 4 men held over Liverpool taxi bombing
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UK police release 4 men held over Liverpool taxi bombing
- Four men in their 20s who had been detained under the Terrorism Act were released late Monday
Russia expels German diplomat in tit-for-tat move
- Moscow also rejected Germany’s accusations of espionage as “baseless” and accused Berlin of whipping up “a spirit of spy mania“
- Germany in January summoned Russia’s ambassador and ordered the expulsion of a diplomat
MOSCOW: Russia said Thursday it was expelling a German diplomat after Berlin last month threw out a Russian official it accused of being a spy handler.
The foreign ministry said it had issued a “note declaring a diplomatic employee of the German Embassy in Moscow persona non grata” in what was a “symmetrical response.”
Moscow also rejected Germany’s accusations of espionage as “baseless” and accused Berlin of whipping up “a spirit of spy mania.”
Germany in January summoned Russia’s ambassador and ordered the expulsion of a diplomat suspected of being the handler of a woman arrested on espionage charges.
Russia at the time dismissed the allegations as baseless and vowed a response.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday called the expulsion “completely unacceptable.”
“While our diplomats abide by the law, Russia relies on escalation and espionage under the guise of diplomacy,” Wadephul said during a visit to Brunei.
Wadephul said that “Russia’s latest unfriendly act... merely demonstrates once again that Russia prioritizes unjustified retaliation over diplomacy,” and added that “we reserve the right to take further action.”
The expelled German diplomat is part of the military attaché staff of the German Embassy in Moscow, Wadephul said.
Western states have ejected dozens of alleged Russian spies over the last decade as relations soured even before the war in Ukraine.
The expulsions have typically triggered a tit-for-tat response from Moscow.
