London police said Wednesday they discovered two improvised explosive devices in an apartment and the counter terrorism command is involved, but officials are “keeping an open mind” about how the devices came to be there.
The report of suspicious devices at an unoccupied apartment in the Craven Park section in Harlesden, northwest London, just after 9:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET) prompted the evacuation of a block of apartments, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement.
An initial assessment determined the devices were IEDs and they were rendered safe, police said. The unoccupied apartment was being refurbished.
“At this early stage, officers are keeping an open mind as to how or why the devices came to be there,” police said.
The United Kingdom is under a threat level for international terrorism of “severe.”
The country has experienced several terror attacks in recent years, including the March of 2017 car-ramming and stabbing attack on Westminster Bridge and near Parliament in which killed five people, including police officer Keith Palmer.
In June of 2017, eight people were killed after three attackers drove a vehicle into pedestrians on the London Bridge and then embarked on a stabbing rampage at a nearby market. The three assailants were killed by police.
