4 held over Liverpool taxi ‘terrorist’ blast: UK police

Police in northwest England yesterday 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.

Russ Jackson, in charge of counter-terrorism policing in the region, said the motivation for Sunday's blast in a taxi was unclear. But he said the improvised explosive device, which ignited in the cab, turning it into a fireball, was "built by the passenger" who died.

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. A fourth man, aged 20, was detained earlier yesterday, Jackson said, adding that "significant items" had been found at a second address in Sefton Park, near Kensington.