The male passenger of the vehicle was declared to be dead at the scene of the explosion and is yet to have been formally identified
A car was pictured in flames, following the explosion, outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital at around 11am on Sunday and police say terror officers are taking charge “out of caution” and are keeping an “open mind” over the cause.
Police have maintained their heavy presence on the streets of Liverpool, as counter-terrorism officers are investigating a car explosion outside of a hospital which has killed one person and injured another.
Three men who are aged 29, 26, and 21, have been arrested under the Terrorism Act in connection with the explosion involving a taxi at Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday.
The male passenger of the vehicle was declared to be dead at the scene and is yet to have been formally identified.
This comes after the PM tore up the independent system for combating sleaze within parliament on Wednesday as he threw the government’s weight behind protecting a Tory MP who was found to have repeatedly breached lobbying rules.
The driver, also a man, was injured at the scene and remains in hospital in a stable condition.
“Detectives from Counter Terrorism Police North West continue to keep an open mind about the cause of the explosion and are working closely with colleagues at Merseyside Police as the investigation continues at pace,” police said in a statement.
Officers were called to the hospital at 10.59am on Sunday.
“So far we understand that the car involved was a taxi which pulled up at the hospital shortly before the explosion occurred,” the police statement said.
Images shared online showed a car on fire and later burnt out, with smoke billowing over the building.
Phil Garrigan, chief fire officer of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, said the blaze was “fully developed” when his crews arrived and that the injured driver had escaped before it took hold.
He told reporters: “The operational crews extinguished the fire rapidly but as has been reiterated by the police chief constable, there was one fatality.
“Another individual had left the vehicle prior to the fire developing to the extent that it did.”
After the explosion, armed police swooped on several terraced houses in Sutcliffe Street, where the three arrests were made.
Sections of Sutcliffe Street and Boaler Street remain cordoned off this morning, with a heavy police presence at the scene as inquiries continue.
A similar police scene is in place at Rutland Avenue in Sefton Park where a number of residents were evacuated overnight from their homes.
This comes after two councils in England represented by Tory ministers have received money under the government’s flagship “levelling-up” fund despite being among the least deprived of local authorities nationwide. The health secretary Sajid Javid’s constituency of Bromsgrove got £14.5m in the first announced tranche of cash under the scheme.
A convoy of seven unmarked vehicles; three vans and four cars, entered the cordon in the early hours of the morning.
Counter-terrorism police officers are leading the current investigation “out of caution” but detectives say they are keeping an “open mind” over the cause.
Liverpool Women’s Hospital has said visiting was currently being restricted until further notice, with patients bring diverted to other hospitals where possible.
“Patients should wait to be contacted for updates about any planned appointments or other attendance at the hospital,” it added.
A statement has said that ambulances were still arriving and that staff could leave and enter “under the supervision of the police”.
