Police name man ‘strongly believed‘ to be involved in terror attack outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital

Police have released the name of the man they believe was involved with a terrorist attack which took place in Liverpool.

Emad Al Swealmeen, 32, has been named by Counter Terrorism Police North West as the man they “strongly believe” was involved in the incident which saw a car being set on fire outside Liverpool’s Women’s Hospital on Sunday (11 November).

The incident has caused the UK’s terror threat level to be raised from ‘substantial’ to ‘severe’, meaning that a terror attack in the UK is “highly likely”.

At a glance: 5 key points

• Police have named the suspect who was killed in a car explosion outside of Liverpool Women’s Hospital as Emad Al Swealmeen
• Counter Terrorism Police North West say they believe Al Swealmeen died in an apparent suicide bombing incident outside the hospital on Remembrance Sunday 
• A taxi exploded on the grounds of the hospital shortly before 11am, with the passenger and driver left injured 
• It was declared as a terror incident however the motives of the suspect is still unknown to police
• The terror threat level in the UK has been move to ‘severe’ since the attack took place

Who is Emad Al Swealmeen?

The 32-year-old was named by Counter Terrorism Police North West as the person they “strongly believe” to have been involved in the suicide bombing.

Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Meeks said: “Our enquiries are very much ongoing but at this stage we strongly believe that the deceased is 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen.”

Police have since raided two addresses connected to Al Swealmeen, where they say “significant items” were recovered.

Meeks continued: “Al Swealmeen is connected to both the Rutland Avenue and Sutcliffe Street addresses where searches are still ongoing.

“We believe he lived at the Sutcliffe Street address for some time and had recently rented the Rutland Avenue address.

“Our focus is the Rutland Avenue address where we have continued to recover significant items.

“We continue to appeal for any information about this incident and now that we have released his name any information that the public may have about Al Swealmeen no matter how small may be of great assistance to us.”

What happened at Liverpool Women’s Hospital?

A taxi exploded outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital shortly before 11am on 11 November.

Russ Jackson, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North West, said that the passenger, who they believe to be Al Swealmeen, appeared to have made an improvised explosive device which caused the explosion.

The incident left the passenger dead and the driver injured.

Taxi driver David Perry was named as the driver in question, and has since been declared a “hero” by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson.

In footage from the incident, Parry had appeared to quickly lock the attacker in his car before the device exploded.

Why was the terror threat level increased?

Home Secretary, Priti Patel, announced that the terror level had been moved from “substantial” to “severe” due to the fact that there had been two attacks within the space of a month.

Conservative MP David Amess was killed in a suspected terror attack on 15 October.

The politician had been meeting constituents at his surgery in Leigh-On-Sea in Essex before he was stabbed to death by 25-year-old Ali Harbi Ali.

Harbi Ali was charged with the murder and with the preparation of terrorist attacks following the fatal stabbing.

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