A man killed on Sunday when his improvised explosive device went off in the back of a taxi in the northern English city of Liverpool had been gathering materials for his bomb for some time, police said on Wednesday.

Emad Al S., who was reportedly born in Iraq, had bought items necessary to make his bomb since renting an apartment in the city six months ago, according to Russ Jackson, head of counterterrorism policing in northwest England.

"A complex picture is emerging over the purchases of the component parts of the device," Jackson said. "We know that [Emad Al S.] rented the property from April this year and we believe relevant purchases have been made at least since that time," said Jackson.

Jackson said a relative of the suspect had told police he was born in Iraq. He added that Emad Al S., a 32-year-old failed asylum-seeker, had had periodic phases of mental illness that would be considered in the police investigation.

The explosion occurred outside Liverpool Women's Hospital shortly before Britain marked Remembrance Sunday, a day commemorating the end of hostilities in the First World War in 1918. The taxi driver escaped with minor injuries and has since been discharged from hospital.

The Times newspaper reported that the explosive used in the device contained TATP, a substance often used by the extremist so-called "Islamic State" group.  

Malcolm Hitchcock, a Liverpool resident who, with his wife, accommodated Emad Al S. for eight months from 2017 while his asylum application played out, told ITV News that he had spent time in a mental institution after being arrested in central Liverpool over an incident involving a knife.

Christian convert

Reports that Emad Al S. had converted to Christianity from Islam have prompted discussion in the UK about whether some asylum-seekers are taking this step in a bid to improve their chances of staying in Britain.

However, people who knew him, including Hitchcock, have said he appeared to have fully adopted the new faith.

Sunday's blast was the second terrorism-motivated attack, according to the police, in England in recent weeks.

Sir David Amess, a British MP, was stabbed to death in southeast England in October as he met constituents.

The incidents have prompted the British government to raise the country's terror threat level to "severe," the second-highest.

*Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims, and urges media outlets to refrain from revealing full names.

tj/fb (Reuters,AFP)