An explosive device has detonated at a restaurant in an Exeter shopping mall.
One person, believed to be responsible for detonating the device, was hurt in the blast at 1250 BST in the Giraffe restaurant in the Princesshay centre.
A police spokesman said a 22-year-old man was in custody with "slight injuries" including lacerations to his eye and some facial burning.
Chief Constable Stephen Otter said one device exploded in the restaurant and another was found nearby.
The second device did not explode.
Officers evacuated the city's bus station and extended an exclusion cordon 100 metres around the scene.
The cordon includes Bedford Square, High Street, Queen Street and Paris Street.
Stores in the area have been asked to retain any CCTV footage in case it is needed at a later date.
Juliet Joffe, a director of Giraffe, confirmed to the BBC a "small explosion" had occurred in the restaurant.
She said the restaurant was evacuated "quickly and efficiently".
Ms Joffe said: "All we know at present is there was an explosion in the Giraffe in Princesshay and the Princesshay has been evacuated. Nobody in the restaurant has been injured apart from the person who set it off."
Eyewitness Peter Lacey, who was in the restaurant with his wife, told BBC News: "There were three explosions. It is my impression they sounded more like gunshots than a bomb, like a lightbulb exploding.
"They came from a locked toilet."
Alison Fewins, 27, from Exeter, was shopping with her friend, Louise Platt, also 27, when the incident happened.
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Devon and Cornwall police hold a news conference
Ms Fewins said: "We were about three or four shops away when we felt a vibration and heard a noise which we thought was building work.
"I am a bit shaken. It's all a bit scary that it happened here."
Assistant Chief Constable Bob Spencer said: "We are carrying out a careful evacuation of the premises using the police and other emergency services that are at the scene.
"We will update the people of Exeter about what has happened as soon as we can.
"In the meantime, I'd urge motorists to stay away from the city centre area and road delays are likely."
The £230m Princesshay development officially opened last September. The scheme has been heralded as the biggest single investment in regeneration in the city's history.
It contains a mix of shops, restaurants and apartments.
Oh joy. This happens to be the county town for where I live. Not had anything interesting happen since the Blitz.
Oh and yet again, the slapstick bomber burns himself.
EBC: Northeners, Huh! What are they good for?! Absolutely nothing!
Cybertron, Justice league...MM, HAB SDN City Watch: Sergeant Detritus
Days Unstabbed, Unabused, Unassualted and Unwavedatwithabutchersknife: 0
Admiral Valdemar wrote:Benny Hill breed of jihadists
LOL!
What happened to the airport roasts?
I thought Roman candles meant they were imported. - Kelly Bundy
12 yards long, two lanes wide it's 65 tons of American pride, Canyonero! - Simpsons
Support the KKK environmental program - keep the Arctic white!
It was quite interesting to watch the spread of mobile phones ringing throughout the Exeter campus as friends phoned each other. The news got out quite quickly that only one person was injured, I'm pleased to hear it was the bomber.
Admiral Valdemar wrote:We seem to be provoking the Benny Hill breed of jihadists, assuming it is a jihadist and not some random guy who wanted to make a name for himself.
I wonder if the get chased by bikini clad women wearing dark burka veils?
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
My money's on the Cornish Liberation Army or whatever the hell they're called. Or some variant there of. If they're prepared to threaten Rick Stein's restaurant in Padstow, I'm sure there are people prepared to try to bomb Devon.
"...a fountain of mirth, issuing forth from the penis of a cupid..." ~ Dalton / Winner of the 'Frank Hipper Most Horrific Drag EVAR' award - 2004 / The artist formerly known as The_Lumberjack.
Evil Brit Conspiracy: Token Moose Obsessed Kebab Munching Semi Geordie
EDIT: The updated article does now actually say there was an Islam connection rather than the current version, so I guess the CLA is absent.
the same article now updated wrote:Police have named a man arrested in connection with an explosion at an Exeter restaurant as 22-year-old Nicky Reilly from Plymouth.
Devon and Cornwall Police Deputy Chief Constable Tony Melville said Mr Reilly has "a history of mental illness" and was a recent convert to Islam.
He said Reilly suffered serious facial injuries following the explosion.
Anti-terrorist officers and security services have been called in to assist police in their investigation.
The device exploded at 1250GMT on Thursday in the Giraffe restaurant at the Princesshay shopping centre.
We believe despite his weak and vulnerable illness he was radicalised and taken advantage of
Deputy Chief Constable Tony Melville
Bomb disposal experts attended the scene and made safe two explosive devices.
Mr Melville said: "Our investigation so far indicates Reilly, who had a history of mental illness, had adopted the Islamic faith.
"We believe despite his weak and vulnerable illness he was preyed upon, radicalised and taken advantage of."
After the arrest police officers searched an address in King Street, Plymouth which was linked to Reilly.
They confirmed that he travelled from Plymouth to Exeter by bus and are appealing for anyone who may have seen him over recent weeks to contact them.
"...a fountain of mirth, issuing forth from the penis of a cupid..." ~ Dalton / Winner of the 'Frank Hipper Most Horrific Drag EVAR' award - 2004 / The artist formerly known as The_Lumberjack.
Evil Brit Conspiracy: Token Moose Obsessed Kebab Munching Semi Geordie
CaptainChewbacca wrote:
I thought they died from their injuries, didn't they?
Only one of them was seriously injured, and did later die, the other is being held awaiting trial.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Dartzap wrote:Sounds like he was a white convert to Islam.
It's always the converts who are the most excitable.....
I really have to wonder why WASPs would find radical Islam appealing. Don't they already have a ton of lunatic causes to lobotomize themselves for, e.g., white supremacy, Christian fundamentalism, homophobia, fascism, etc.? (Those causes are no better than radical Islam, but I doubt they're any worse.)
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
It is odd that someone would grab an ideology that usually tends to paint his skin colour in a negative light, but stranger things have happened, and they probably didn't emphasise it.
"Yeah, funny how that works - you giving hungry people food they vote for you. You give homeless people shelter they vote for you. You give the unemployed a job they vote for you.
Maybe if the conservative ideology put a roof overhead, food on the table, and employed the downtrodden the poor folk would be all for it, too". - Broomstick
