New elements emerge from the investigation, two days after the explosion of a taxi on Sunday in Liverpool (North of England).
British counterterrorism police take a look at the profile of the suspect, Emad Al Swealmeen, 32, who died in the blast.
According to British media, this refugee converted to Christianity is now at the heart of suspicion: investigators believe that the Liverpool explosive device was "manufactured" by this passenger in the taxi, killed by the explosion.
Its motivations, however, remain to be determined.
"We understand better hour by hour, but it will probably take some time, perhaps several weeks, before being sure to know what happened", indicated the police which considers for the moment that 'it is a "terrorist act".
"He lived here for eight months, and we lived side by side"
According to British media, Emad Al Swealmeen is a refugee from the Middle East posing as Syrian and was not known to the intelligence services.
He arrived in the UK several years ago and converted to Christianity there.
Elizabeth and Malcom Hitchcott, a Christian couple living in Liverpool, expressed their "shock" and "sadness" when they learned that Emad Al Swealmeen, whom they had housed for months, was believed to be responsible for the explosion.
“He lived here for eight months, and we lived side by side.
It never felt like something was wrong, ”Malcom Hitchcott told ITV.
He explained that the young man left Islam to become a Christian and was baptized and confirmed at Liverpool Cathedral.
“He was very calm (...) I used to pray for half an hour in the living room with him every day.
I don't think he was faking his faith, ”the Briton also told the Telegraph.
Several times interned in psychiatry
According to him, Emad Al Swealmeen, who also called himself Enzo Almeni, was interned for about six months in psychiatry a few years ago after an incident in the city center involving a knife.
Malcolm Hitchcott explained that his protege's request for asylum had been rejected because the relevant services did not believe that Emad Al Swealmeen was Syrian as he claimed.
According to The Sun newspaper, which claims that Al-Swealmeen was Jordanian, the counterterrorism police believe that the repeated refusals of his asylum application and his psychological problems may have prompted him to act.
"One of the things we are studying is whether these unresolved grievances pushed him to the limit and led him to carry out the attack," a source told the daily.
As part of the investigation, four men, aged 20, 21, 26 and 29, were arrested on Sunday and Monday and have since been released.
Russ Jackson, in charge of the region's counterterrorism police, said investigators had made "significant progress" and "recovered important evidence from the Rutland Avenue address which is becoming central to the investigation."
"More than thirty plots" foiled
It was in this avenue, where Emad Al Swealmeen had recently rented accommodation, that he had borrowed a taxi on Sunday morning to go to a maternity hospital in Liverpool.
The explosion occurred shortly before 11 am in front of the hospital as the UK commemorates the victims of wars on “Remembrance Sunday”.
The taxi driver, who was able to get out of the vehicle before it was consumed by the flames, was released from the hospital where he had been treated for injuries.
“The explosion happened while he was in the car and it's a real miracle that he was able to escape,” his wife explained on facebook.
Home Secretary Damian Hinds said on Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic may have "exacerbated" the number of people self-radicalizing online.
He also told Sky News that people had to remain "vigilant", and pointed out that the police had foiled "more than thirty late-stage plots in recent years".
This is the second attack in a month, after the October 15 murder of MP David Amess while on parliamentary duty about sixty kilometers from London.
Its alleged perpetrator has been charged with murder and preparation for terrorist acts.
After this attack, the United Kingdom raised Monday to "serious" the level of the terrorist threat on British soil.
