"Remarkably, the taxi driver escaped from the cab. This quickly engulfed it in flames," he added. "As the taxi approached the drop-off point at the hospital, an explosion occurred from within the car. Jackson gave few details but said the taxi driver picked up the passenger from the Kensington area and was asked to be taken to the hospital. "We knew that the taxi driver had stood out and locked the doors, we knew that early on," she told BBC radio, while also warning against further speculation. Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson said: "The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital.
"But it does look as though the taxi driver in question did behave with incredible presence of mind and bravery," he told reporters in London. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said moments before the news conference that it would be premature to comment in detail about the incident, with the investigation ongoing.
The passenger had wanted to go to the annual service at Liverpool's Anglican cathedral, according to UK media quoting investigators and friends of the cabbie.īut road closures forced the taxi to detour and they ended up at the nearby hospital, where the bomb went off just after the driver had escaped, the Daily Mail reported. There was immediate praise for the taxi driver, who reportedly locked the passenger - a man - inside the cab after growing suspicious about his intentions. The blast and fireball sent thick smoke into the air just seconds before Britain fell silent in tribute to its war dead and military veterans at 1100 GMT. Three men aged 21, 26 and 29 were arrested under the Terrorism Act soon after the explosion in the nearby Kensington area of the city and were taken for questioning.Ī fourth man, aged 20, was detained earlier on Monday, Jackson said, adding that "significant items" had been found at a second address in Sefton Park, near Kensington. "Although the motivation for this incident is yet to be understood, given all the circumstances, it has been declared a terrorist incident." Jackson told a news conference: "We cannot at this time draw any connection with this but it is a line of inquiry, which we are pursuing. That has prompted speculation the event was the intended target. The explosion outside the Liverpool Women's Hospital came just minutes before a Remembrance Sunday service at nearby Liverpool Cathedral. Russ Jackson, in charge of counter-terrorism policing in the region, said the motivation for Sunday's blast in a taxi was unclear.īut he said the improvised explosive device, which ignited in the cab, turning it into a fireball, was "built by the passenger" who died. LIVERPOOL: Police in northwest England on Monday said they were treating a deadly blast outside a hospital in Liverpool as a "terrorist incident" involving a homemade bomb that was reportedly foiled by a quick-thinking taxi driver. An explosion engulfed a cab outside Liverpool Women's Hospital seconds before Britain fell silent at 1100 GMT on Sunday to honour its war dead.