The Parsons Green bucket bomb had a “large quantity of explosive” and was “packed with shrapnel”, Metropolitan Police Chief Cressida Dick has revealed.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC radio on Friday, Ms. Dick said: “That was a very, very dangerous bomb. It partially detonated, it had a large quantity of explosive and it was packed with shrapnel.
“It could have been so much worse than it was.”
The improvised explosive device partially detonated during rush hour on a London underground train on Friday the 15th of September at Parsons Green Station and resulted in nearly 30 injuries from flash burns and the ensuing stampede.
The bomb contained a homemade explosive favoured by jihadists called ‘Mother of Satan‘ (acetone peroxide). The chemical was also used in the Manchester Arena attack that killed 22 people when suicide bomber Salman Abedi targeted an Ariana Grande concert in May attended by mostly family, women, and young girls.
In total, six people were held by police for questioning, and four remain in custody.
On Thursday, London police released 21-year-old ‘Man B’, identified in some media reports as Syrian origin Yahyah Farouk, who was arrested in Hounslow, London, on Saturday, with no further action taken.
On the same day, police confirmed they released a 48-year-old arrested in Newport, South Wales. Four other people – aged 17 to 30 and arrested in Wales and Dover, Kent – remain in custody. An 18-year-old male, reported in the media to be an Iraqi refugee, is suspected of being the primary bomber.
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