LONDON —
Britain's counterterrorism police will lead the investigation into a mysterious illness that struck down a Russian former double agent and his daughter in the southern English city of Salisbury, police said on Tuesday.
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were critically ill in a hospital after being found unconscious on Sunday on a bench outside a shopping center in the city.
"Due to the unusual circumstances, it has been decided that the Counterterrorism Policing network will lead the investigation as it has the specialist expertise to do so," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
"It has not been declared a terrorist incident and at this stage we are keeping an open mind as to what happened."
