UK Home Minister Priti Patel has reportedly claimed on Wednesday that the suspect in the Liverpool Sunday terror attack took advantage of the country's "dysfunctional" asylum system to remain in the United Kingdom after his application for a permanent residence was rejected.
According to the British media, Patel, who is on a three-day visit to Washington, told reporters on her flight to the US that the suicide bombing showed that the government was right to reform the asylum system.
"The case in Liverpool was a complete reflection of how dysfunctional, how broken, the system has been in the past, and why I want to bring changes forward," she was quoted as saying by Sky News.
Patel also blamed the legal advisers who go to court "day-in-day-out" to defend the rights of individuals intent on causing harm, according to Sky.
On Sunday, a taxi exploded near the Women's Hospital in Liverpool, leaving one man dead and another one injured. The police classified the incident as an act of terrorism and detectives believe that the passenger who died in the explosion was the one who was carrying an improvised explosive device in the taxi, whose driver managed to get out.
The suspect was later identified as Emad Al Swealmeen, a 32-year-old asylum seeker whose application to stay in the UK had been reportedly rejected by the Home Office because immigration authorities believed he was lying about his Syrian-Iraqi origins.
Following the Liverpool bombing, the UK raised the terror threat level from substantial to severe, meaning that an attack is highly like in the near future. (ANI/Sputnik)
( With inputs from ANI )
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