British police have come in for heavy criticism for using a fake “Muslim terrorist” in a mock drill.
This is how it unfolded:
Anti-terror police descend on a shopping centre in a mock training exercise which featured a fake suicide bomber detonating a device.
The drill took part in the vast Trafford Centre shopping complex in the suburbs of Manchester.
Police who staged this mock attack featured a bomber shouting “Allah-U-Akbar” and have been forced to apologise for racial stereotyping. The exercise was to test the response of emergency services.
Around 800 volunteers were involved in the exercise which started at midnight at the entrance to the food court when a man dressed in black caused an explosion.
Volunteers – equipped with ear defenders and safety glasses – dropped to the floor, some of them with bloody mock injuries.
Others left the restaurants’ terraces where they were sitting and ran for safety.
Police underlined there is no specific threat to the shopping centre and the exercise had been planned since last year.
The current UK terror threat level is described as severe, meaning an attack is highly likely, according to the security services.
The exercise, named Exercise Winchester Accord, is the fourth major exercise in months, coming after previous ones in London, Glasgow and Essex.
(With inputs from AP)
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