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UK Identifies Terror Suspect After blowing Himself Up

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UK Identifies Terror Suspect After blowing Himself Up

Thirty-two-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen has been identified as the suspected terrorist who blew himself up outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital at the weekend .

Counter-Terrorism Police North West said they “strongly believe” Mr Al Swealmeen was the passenger who died when a taxi exploded shortly before 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.

They previously said he was picked up in the Rutland Avenue area of the city and asked to be taken to the hospital.

As the car reached the hospital’s passenger drop-off point, it exploded.

Searches are underway at the Rutland Avenue address and the second address in Sutcliffe Street, which officers have said Mr Al Swealmeen previously lived.

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“Our inquiries are very much ongoing, but at this stage, we strongly believe that the deceased is 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen. Al Swealmeen is connected to both the Rutland Avenue and Sutcliffe Street addresses, where searches are still ongoing,” Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Meeks said. “We believe he lived at the Sutcliffe Street address for some time and had recently rented the Rutland Avenue address. Our focus is the Rutland Avenue address, where we have continued to recover significant items.

Mr Meeks added, “We continue to appeal for any information about this incident. Now that we have released his name, any information that the public may have about Al Swealmeen, no matter how small, may be of great assistance to us.”

Detectives declared it a terrorist attack but said the motive was unclear. The UK terror threat level was raised to severe, meaning a future attack is highly likely.

Four men arrested under terrorism laws in the Kensington area of Liverpool – three aged 21, 26 and 29, who were held on Sunday, and a man aged 20 who was detained on Monday – have now been released from police custody the following interview, Counter Terrorism Police North West said on Monday night.

MI5 is assisting the police with the investigation.

Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, also from Counter-Terrorism Policing North West, previously told journalists at Merseyside Police headquarters that the “improvised” explosive device had been “manufactured,” adding the force’s assumption was that it was built by the suspect in the taxi.

Official sources previously confirmed that the suspect was not previously known to the security services.

According to reports, Mr Al Swealmeen converted to Christianity after moving to the UK from the Middle East and was later briefly taken in by Christian volunteers Malcolm and Elizabeth Hitchcott in Liverpool.

Speaking to the BBC, Elizabeth Hitchcott said, “We’re just so, so sad. We just loved him. He was a lovely guy.”
Questioned if the couple were shocked by the incident, she added: “Very.”

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The driver of the cab, named locally as David Perry, was treated in hospital after fleeing the car just before it burst into flames and has been discharged.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised him for behaving with “incredible presence of mind and bravery” and was lauded for his “heroic efforts” by the mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson.

Speaking at a press conference at Downing Street, Mr Johnson said the blast was a “stark reminder” to the public to remain vigilant, adding: “What yesterday showed above all is that the British people will never be cowed by terrorism. We will never give in to those who seek to divide us with senseless acts of violence.”

He was set to host an emergency Cobra meeting on Monday in response to the incident.

On Monday afternoon, a controlled explosion was carried out in Sefton Park “as a precaution” as part of the investigation, police said.

(NAN)

 

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French Schools Send Home Schoolgirls For Wearing Muslim Dress Abayas

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French President Emmanuel Macron

French schools sent dozens of girls home for refusing to remove their abayas – an over-garment from the shoulders to the feet worn by Muslim women – on the first day of the school year, a government minister said on Tuesday.

Defying a ban on the Muslim dress, nearly 300 girls showed up on Monday morning wearing an abaya, education secretary Gabriel Attal told the BFM broadcaster.

The Daily Mail quoted Attal as saying that most agreed to change out of the dress, but 67 refused and were sent home.

The government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke the rules on secularism in education that have already seen Muslim headscarves banned on the grounds they constitute a display of religious affiliation.

The move gladdened the political Right but the hard-Left argued it represented an affront to civil liberties.

French schools sent dozens of girls home for refusing to remove their abayas – an over-garment from the shoulders to the feet worn by Muslim women – on the first day of the school year, a government minister said on Tuesday.

Announcing the ban last month, Attal said at the time: ‘When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn’t be able to identify the pupils’ religion just by looking at them. I have decided that the abaya can no longer be worn in schools.’

Attal said the girls refused entry were given a letter addressed to their families saying that ‘secularism is not a constraint, it is a liberty’.

If they showed up at school again wearing the dress there would be a ‘new dialogue’, the minister said.

On Monday evening, president Emmanuel Macron defended the controversial measure, saying there was a ‘minority’ in France who ‘hijack a religion and challenge the republic and secularism’, leading to the ‘worst consequences’ such as the murder three years ago of teacher Samuel Paty for showing Mohammed caricatures during a civics education class.

‘We cannot act as if the terrorist attack, the murder of Samuel Paty, had not happened,’ he said in an interview with Youtube channel HugoDecrypte.

An association representing Muslims has filed a motion with the State Council, France’s highest court for complaints against state authorities, for an injunction against the ban on the abaya and the qamis, its equivalent dress for men.

The Action for the Rights of Muslims (ADM) motion is to be examined later on Tuesday.

Abdallah Zekri, vice-president of the French Council for Muslim Worship, said last month the abaya ‘has never been a religious symbol’ and should not be banned.

He said the ban was yet another example of politicians using dress favoured by women and girls to attack some five million Muslims living in France.

‘I think the minister could have asked the opinion of religious leaders,’ said Zerkri.

‘For me, the abaya is not a religious dress, it is a form of fashion.

‘If you go to some stores, you find abayas. It’s a long and loose dress at the same time. It has nothing to do with religion.’

A law introduced in March 2004 banned ‘the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious affiliation’ in schools.

This includes large Christian crosses, Jewish kippas and Islamic headscarves.

Unlike headscarves, abayas occupied a grey area and had faced no outright ban until now.

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Gabon’s BREAKING:Military Leader Sworn In As President

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Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema

Gabon ‘s new military leader was sworn in as the head of state Monday less than a week after ousting the president whose family had ruled the Central African nation for more than five decades.

Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, took the oath in the presidential palace in front of a packed, boisterous room of government officials, military and local leaders in Gabon’s capital, Libreville. Oligui is a cousin of the ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, served as a bodyguard to his late father and is head of the republican guard, an elite military unit.

Speaking to applause and standing ovations Monday, Oligui said the military had seized power without bloodshed and promised to return power to the people by organizing free, transparent and credible elections.

“With the new government, made up of experienced people, we’re going to give everyone a chance to hope,” he said.

.AP

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BREAKING: Gabonese Military Officers Sack President

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President Ali Bongo

Senior Gabonese military officers appeared on national television to announce they have taken power.

The group of 12 officers made the announcement shortly after Gabon’s election body reported early on Wednesday morning that President Ali Bongo had won a third term in office.

After observing “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos… we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime”, one of the soldiers said, speaking on the Gabon 24 TV channel.

There was no immediate comment from the Gabon government, the Reuters news agency reported.

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