An attacker on Sunday firebombed an immigration office used to process asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats and was later found dead.
The attack came as the government is trying to curb record arrivals.
Kent Police said “two or three incendiary devices” were thrown at a center treating immigrants in the canal port city of Dover in southern England on Sunday morning, injuring two.
The BBC quoted the Home Office as saying the attack took place at the center of the Western Jet Foil Border Force in the major Channel port city where asylum seekers were being treated.
Police said the suspect was “identified and located very quickly at a nearby gas station and confirmed deceased.”
They didn’t say how the person died, but Dover’s Conservative MP Natalie told LBC radio the person was believed to have “committed suicide”.
Police also said two people had “reported minor injuries at the property.”
The attacker arrived at the scene in a car, they said, adding that another “device was found and confirmed safe” in the vehicle.
Local news website Kent Live published photos of police and firefighters at the scene near the Port of Dover and the BBC reported a fire was being put out.
– “Tensions are rising” –
Home Secretary Suella Braverman tweeted that there had been a “disturbing incident” and said she was receiving “regular updates on the situation.”
“My thoughts are with those affected, the tireless workers at the Home Office and the police,” she added.
Elphicke tweeted, “I am deeply shocked by what happened in Dover today…My thoughts are with everyone involved.”
The local MP said the attack took place at a center where people arriving in small boats are first taken before being taken to Manston, another processing center in Kent.
The center remains open, but police said around 700 migrants were relocated to Manston during the early stages of the investigation.
Elphicke told LBC: “We do not yet know the motivation of the person concerned.”
She added: “I think it’s fair to say that tensions have been high of late.”
She cited a case where immigrants arriving in a small boat broke into a resident’s home.
– record numbers –
Government figures showed 990 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats on Saturday, bringing this year’s record number to nearly 40,000.
The issue has caused a major political headache for the UK government, which promised tighter border controls after leaving the European Union.
Braverman has backed a plan to send migrants illegally crossing the Channel to Rwanda while doing so currently faces legal obstacles.
Elphicke wrote an article in the Mail on Sunday with the headline: “When will the left admit this isn’t a refugee crisis… just illegal immigration”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday that when he first took office, leaders agreed with French President Emmanuel Macron to work more closely to “prevent fatal voyages across the Channel benefiting organized criminals”.
Sunak has called for the canal route to become “unprofitable” for traffickers.
