A man has died after throwing petrol bombs at a new British immigration border force centre before killing himself, a witness has claimed. The attacker, who is described as being white and wearing a striped top, drove up to the centre in Dover, Kent, in white Seat sports utility vehicle.
It is claimed that he then got out and lobbed three petrol bombs, one of which did not go off, a Reuters photographer present at the scene said. The Mirror reports that, after the attack, the man drove off and killed himself.
Police arrived at the scene at 11.20am on Sunday and cordoned off the area. Fire crews also attended the incident. Footage shared on social media shows a fire at the migrant processing centre and a nearby petrol station.
The incident comes after Government figures showed that almost 1,000 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on Saturday. Huge lines of people thought to be migrants could be seen waiting to be processed at the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, as a total of 990 arrived.
Nearly 40,000 have arrived in the UK so far this year after attempting the treacherous trip from France, crossing the world's busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other small boats, provisional figures show.
It is the highest number of arrivals in one day for a number of weeks, with more crossings taking place on Sunday morning. The highest number in a single day was set on August 22 when 1,295 people arrived in the country.
Kent Police said in a statement: "We were called at 11.22am on Sunday, October 30, to The Viaduct in Dover. Officers established that two to three incendiary devices had been thrown into a Home Office immigration premises. One minor injury has been reported. The suspect has been identified and located. Enquiries into the incident remain ongoing."
A Home Office spokesman said: "We are aware of an incident at Western Jet Foil, Dover, and police ar
e in attendance. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.
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