The Greater Manchester Police Department in Britain was forced to apologize after it faced backlash for using the phrase “Alluhu Ackbar” in a police training scenario emulating an ISIS suicide bombing.
“[W]e acknowledge that it was unacceptable to use this religious phrase immediately before the mock suicided bombing, which so vocally linked this exercise with Islam,” the GM police said in a statement. “We recognize and apologise for the offence that this has caused.”
Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan acknowledged that this terror exercise was “based on a suicide attack by an extremist Daesh [ISIS] style organisation.” According to the Associated Press, “Islamic State extremists have often used the phrase [Alluh Akbar] before attacking civilian targets.”
The purpose of the exercise was to test the emergency response capability for a possible terrorist attack.
A statement from ACC Garry Shewan following last night’s counter terrorism exercise #CTexercise pic.twitter.com/n56RtYnqmb
— G M Police (@gmpolice) May 10, 2016
According to the Daily Mail, 800 volunteers were used to act out a scenario where terrorists committed a suicide bombing at the Trafford Centre and yelled “Alluh Akbar” [God is great] before detonating the device.
In video released of the training exercise, the actor playing a terrorist runs into a room yelling “Alluh Akbar” four times before detonating the explosive device.
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