British Police Apologize for Using ‘Allahu Ackbar’ in a Terror Attack Drill

UK police have apologized for using the Arabic phrase meaning “God is great” during an exercise designed to test emergency responses to a terrorist attack.

The AP reports that Greater Manchester Police admitted it had been “unacceptable” to use the religious phrase, after police came under fire on Twitter for posting the video showing the fake terrorist saying “Allahu Ackbar” repeatedly.

The Daily Mail wrote:

[The mock attack] involved a ‘suicide bomber’ detonating his ‘explosive’ in the middle of the Trafford Centre, ‘killing and wounding’ dozens of the 800 volunteers called in to make the simulation as real as possible.
But upon seeing video footage of the ‘attack’, critics bombarded the force with messages of disapproval – asking why the terrorist had to be identified as Muslim after he was overheard shouting the Islamic phrase for ‘God is great’ four times as he stormed the building before ‘blowing himself up’.

The scenario for the drill had been modeled on an ISIS-style attack, Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said in a statement.

“On reflection we acknowledge that it was unacceptable to use this religious phrase immediately before the mock suicide bombing, which so vocally linked this exercise with Islam,” he added.

[Photo via screen cap]

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