The police in Greater Manchester area have admitted that the "Allahu Akbar" shout used by a mock suicide bomber in a counter-terrorism exercise was included in the scripts of the drill.
British daily The Guardian reported Wednesday that the police admitted that usage of the phrase, which means "God is Great" in Arabic and used in prayers, was planned earlier and was not individually used by the actor portraying the suicide bomber.
The drill was exercised on early Tuesday in at the Trafford Centre, Manchester's largest shopping mall, with police, special forces units, ambulance crews and some 800 people attending.
The incident drew reaction from human rights groups and Britain's Muslim community for stereotyping Muslims and associating Islam with terrorism.
By Tuesday afternoon, Manchester police issued an apology, saying it acknowledged it was "unacceptable to use this religious phrase immediately before the mock suicide bombing, which so vocally linked this exercise with Islam.
"We recognize and apologize for the offence that this has caused," the written statement added.
