BRITAIN:A MAN suspected of attempting to carry out a terrorist suicide bombing at a restaurant in Exeter received a text message of encouragement as he set out on his mission, UK counter-terrorism sources have claimed.
Armed police arrested a second man in a cafe in Plymouth city centre yesterday in connection with their inquiry.
The arrest came as further details emerged of the attack and the man believed to have carried it out. Nicky Reilly (22) was injured when a nail bomb he is alleged to have been assembling partially detonated.
He had gone into the toilets at at the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter at lunchtime on Thursday. Counter-terrorism officials believe the attack was intended to be a suicide bombing. Mr Reilly had a history of mental illness and police say he was preyed upon and radicalised.
Detectives were looking for the person who sent the message of encouragement alleged to have been received by Mr Reilly just before he left his Plymouth home and travelled by bus for more than an hour with the bombs. There were 54 other passengers on the bus.
Counter-terrorism officials were examining whether the attempted bombing was part of a new tactic of recruiting vulnerable white men to carry out attacks.
Though most people on the Plymouth estate where Mr Reilly lived knew he had converted to Islam, few noticed a difference in his character. "He told us that he had changed his name to Mohammed Rasheed last year, but all of us English people were still allowed to call him Nicky," said a neighbour.