London, Nov 21 (AFP\/APP):The taxi driver who survived the botched bombing inside his cab in the northern English city of Liverpool last weekend said on Sunday it was a “miracle” that he was alive.<\/p>\n
In a statement released through local police, David Perry called the attack — which involved a crude homemade bomb containing ball-bearings — “an evil act”.<\/p>\n
Iraq-born Emad Al Swealmeen’s improvised device went off in the back of Perry’s taxi outside a hospital, just moments before events to honour military war dead on Remembrance Sunday.<\/p>\n
Swealmeen, 32, was killed in the fireball, while the taxi driver escaped with minor injuries.<\/p>\n
Police, who promptly declared the blast a terrorist incident, are still piecing together what happened and the motive behind the attack, but reports have said quick-thinking Perry locked the bomber inside the vehicle.<\/p>\n
“I feel like it’s a miracle that I’m alive and so thankful that no one else was injured in such an evil act,” he said in the brief statement, which did not detail the events.<\/p>\n
“I now need time to try to come to terms with what’s happened and focus on my recovery both mentally and physically.”<\/p>\n
Swealmeen planned the attack for at least seven months, counter-terrorism police in northwest England said on Wednesday, using “many aliases” to purchase the ingredients for the bomb.<\/p>\n
The officer leading the probe said on Friday the homemade bomb would have caused “significant injury or death” if it had properly detonated.<\/p>\n
It was the second attack in Britain within a month, after a British MP was stabbed to death as he met constituents in southeast England in October.<\/p>\n
The two attacks prompted the government to raise the terror threat level from “substantial” to “severe” — the second-highest — meaning an attack was “highly likely”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London, Nov 21 (AFP\/APP):The taxi driver who survived the botched bombing inside his cab in the northern English city of Liverpool last weekend said on Sunday it was a “miracle” that he was alive. In a statement released through local police, David Perry called the […]<\/p>\n
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