A 22-year-old Islam convert suspected of setting off an explosion in a restaurant in Exeter in Britain has been released from hospital, police said today.
Nicky Reilly from King Street, Plymouth, has been under treatment in the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital since he was injured in the blast on Thursday.
He suffered eye and facial injuries when the device partially went off in the Giraffe restaurant at lunchtime.
Two other devices were found nearby said the police. Mr Reilly, who had been under police guard in hospital, was now in custody
somewhere in the Devon and Cornwall force area said the police. He can now be formally questioned about the Exeter blast.
Mr Reilly, arrested under the Terrorism Act, can be held for 28 days. Two men seized by police at gunpoint in Plymouth on Friday lunchtime are still being held by the police.
One man was arrested, and another was helping with enquiries said a police spokesman.
The bomb set off in the Giraffe restaurant would have released a giant fireball had it ignited fully.
The device was made from sodium hydroxide and paraffin and packed with nails and was designed to detonate when it was shaken, sources said.
Mr Reilly emerged from the Giraffe cafe “covered in blood” when the bomb failed to detonate fully. Two other devices were found nearby.
He had received a text message of encouragement before he left on the failed mission, sources said.
Mr Reilly carried the volatile explosive on the X38 bus from Plymouth with more than 50 passengers on board, arriving in Exeter just after midday on Thursday.
The Giraffe restaurant is about 100 yards from the city bus depot. Police believe extremists took advantage of Mr Reilly’s low IQ and history of mental illness to radicalise him.
He had changed his name to Mohammed Rasheed, and had a screen saver of the Twin Towers in flames from the 9/11 attacks on his home computer, neighbours said.
PA