Man killed in UK taxi blast was blown up by his own bomb, investigators say
Jordanian Emad Al Swealmeen was killed by explosive device he made with ‘murderous intent’ outside Liverpool hospital in November, according to British authorities
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LONDON — A coroner ruled Thursday that a man who died in a taxi blast outside a Liverpool hospital was killed by a bomb he created to kill others.
The inquest found that 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen died when the taxi he was traveling in as a passenger exploded and caught fire outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital in northwest England on November 14.
Iraq-born Swealmeen made the improvised explosive device with “murderous intent,” said senior coroner Andre Rebello at Liverpool and Wirral Coroner’s Court.
The driver managed to escape the vehicle and survived the explosion, which was declared a terrorist incident by police.
It was the second attack in Britain within a month, after an MP was stabbed to death as he met constituents in October. This prompted the government to raise the terror threat level to “severe.”
Swealmeen had bought 2,000 ball bearings to pack the device and rented a flat to use as a “bomb-making factory,” the inquest said.
The coroner concluded that “it is clear from the evidence… this device could only have been manufactured with murderous intent, fortunately there was only one victim.”
ITV News has obtained pictures of Emad Al Swealmeen, the man who police say died in a car explosion outside Liverpool Women's Hospital on Sunday
Read more: https://t.co/Y0kvmfsKVM pic.twitter.com/EXLQsTbofN
— ITV News (@itvnews) November 15, 2021
Counter-terrorism police have previously said that Swealmeen planned the attack for at least seven months, using “many aliases” to purchase the ingredients for the bomb.
The coroner said it was unclear whether Swealmeen had deliberately detonated the device outside the hospital, minutes before events to honor Remembrance Sunday.
The blast blew out the car’s windscreen and damaged hospital windows.
Swealmeen had previous convictions and had falsely claimed asylum as a Syrian refugee in the United Kingdom after arriving legally on a Jordanian passport.
His asylum claims had been refused and a counter-terrorism police officer suggested to the inquest that Swealmeen might have recently converted to Christianity with the aim of strengthening his case to stay.
The Times of Israel Community.