The incredible bravery of the hero taxi driver who locked the Liverpool suicide bomber in his car | VIDEO

The United Kingdom on Monday raised the country’s terrorist threat level to “serious”, the second highest, the day after a taxi exploded in front of a Liverpool hospital.

“We raised the threat level from significant to serious”Interior Minister Priti Patel declared on television, noting that the Liverpool incident was the second act considered terrorist after the assassination of MP David Amess a month ago.

This level of threat means that the risk of an attack is considered “highly probable”.

In the morning, the police had described as “Terrorist incident” the deflagration of a taxi, which occurred the day before in front of a women’s hospital in Liverpool, in the north of England.

The British people “will never be intimidated by terrorism”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared on Monday. “We will never give in to those who want to divide us with foolish acts.”

On Sunday night, counterterrorism police reported the arrest of “three men aged 29, 26 and 21” under “terrorism law” in the Kensington area. On Monday, police announced the arrest of a fourth 20-year-old man.

The reasons for this “act of terrorism” are not yet known, said Russ Jackson, head of the anti-terrorism police in North West England.

Handcrafted artifact

Researchers believe that the explosive device was “manufactured” by the passenger, which took him inside the vehicle and died in the explosion.

The passenger took the taxi on Rutland Avenue from Liverpool and asked to go to the women’s hospital, a 10-minute drive away.

The police searched an address precisely on that avenue, where “Significant articles were found and more research will be required today and potentially in the coming days.” The armed body also registered another address.

The explosion occurred just before 11 am (local time and GMT) during commemorations for the victims of the war, called “Remembrance Day” in the United Kingdom. A few hundred yards away, soldiers, veterans and members of the public were gathered for a tribute at Liverpool Cathedral.

Police do not know if the explosion was also aimed at the commemorations. According to local media citing investigators and friends of the taxi driver, another version is that the passenger wanted to go to the cathedral first, but as some streets were closed, the driver had to pass in front of the hospital.

“We cannot establish a connection at this time, but it is a line of research that we are exploring”, Jackson said at a press conference on Monday.

He also said that investigators believe they have the identity of the passenger, but prefer not to reveal it for now.

“Incredible courage”

Some tabloids and political leaders called the taxi driver a “hero”, who was injured in the explosion., but it allowed – according to them – to avoid deaths. According to the police, he has already left the hospital where he was being treated.

“The case is still under investigation, so I cannot comment on the details or say exactly what kind of incident it was (…) but it seems that the taxi driver in question behaved with incredible courage and courage,” Johnson said, during a visit to a London medical center.

The anti-terrorism police are in charge of the investigation with the support of the intelligence service MI5, as specified by the BBC.

According to the Daily Mail, the driver identified as David Perry realized the passenger was a “suspect” and locked him in the taxi before escaping.

“The taxi driver, with his heroic efforts, managed to avoid what could be a horrible catastrophe in the hospital”, said the mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson, on the BBC this Monday. Anderson confirmed that the driver had “locked the doors” of the vehicle.

For his part, the president of the Conservative Party, Oliver Dowden, said that what happened “reminds us that the threat of terrorism has not disappeared.”

The local police explained that they received an alert on Sunday around 11:00 a.m. local time and that they intervened quickly.

The area was still cordoned off this Monday morning, on Rutland Avenue in Liverpool and a “small number of homes were evacuated as a precaution,” Greater Manchester police reported.

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