UK lowers terror threat level from ‘severe’ to ‘substantial’

By AP 9 February 2022, 6:08 pm

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A police officer stands guard near the scene of a car blast outside the Women's Hospital in Liverpool on November 15, 2021. (Paul ELLIS / AFP)

Britain’s official threat level for international terrorism is lowered to “substantial,” meaning an attack is likely.

It previously stood at “severe,” signaling that UK intelligence officials considered an attack highly likely.

Home Secretary Priti Patel says that “any reduction in the threat level is positive but it must never make us complacent.”

She says the threat from terrorism in the UK is “complex, volatile and unpredictable.”

The threat level was raised to severe, the second-highest rung on a five-point scale, in November after an Iraq-born man blew himself up with a homemade bomb outside a hospital in Liverpool. The suspected bombmaker, Emad Al Swealmeen, died when the device went off inside a taxi. The driver was injured.