Nerve agent used in bid to murder Russian spy

Sergei Skripal and daughter were targeted specifically, says counter-terror police chief

Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent, counter-terror police believe.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of counter-terrorism policing, said the incident was being treated as attempted murder and the pair had been “targeted specifically”.

He declined to specify the nerve agent or how it was administered.

Mr Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia are fighting for their lives in hospital days after being found slumped on a bench in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

A police officer who was among the first on the scene is also in a serious condition and his family are being supported, Mr Rowley said.

He said: “Having established that a nerve agent was the cause of the symptoms, leading us to treat this as attempted murder, I can also confirm that the we believe the two people who originally became unwell were targeted specifically.

“Our role now of course is to establish who is behind this and why they carried out this act.”

Hundreds of detectives, forensic officers and analysts are working on the case, he said.

Mr Rowley reiterated his appeal for anyone who was in Salisbury city centre on Sunday to come forward to help with the “missing pieces” in the case.

Scotland Yard said detectives were “keeping an open mind as to what happened” and that the situation had not been declared a terrorist incident.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said the incident posed a “low risk” to the public and advised that all the sites the pair were known to have

“Our role is to establish who is behind this ...

visited had been “secured”. The investigation has triggered a diplomatic row and prompted crisis talks in Whitehall but Home Secretary Amber Rudd said police must respond to “evidence, not to rumour”.

She said: “We must let the police carry on their work, they will share what they can but I’m sure there will be more updates as the investigation continues.”

Mr Skripal was convicted in 2006 of passing state secrets to MI6 before being given refuge in the UK as part of a spy swap.

Picture: PA. A police tent in the centre of Salisbury where the pair were found critically ill.