Nerve agent was behind attack on former Russian spy

By Emma Stoye2018-03-08T14:53:00

A police tent is seen behind a cordon outside The Maltings shopping centre where a man and a woman were found critically ill on a bench on March 4 and taken to hospital sparking a major incident, on March 7, 2018 in Wiltshire, England. Sergei Skripal, who

Source: © Matt Cardy / Getty Images

UK authorities know which agent was used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter but are keeping this secret as inquiries continue

Investigators have revealed that the substance used to attack former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, UK, is a nerve agent. However, exactly which chemical agent was used has not yet been disclosed. The pair were discovered slumped on a bench in the city’s Maltings shopping centre on 4 March, and are both still critically ill in hospital. A police officer who was one of the first to respond to the incident is also being treated in intensive care. Assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, head of counter terrorism policing at the Metropolitan Police, says scientists have identified the substance used. ‘Having established that they were exposed to a nerve agent we are now treating this as a major incident involving an attempted murder,’ he said in a statement.