A dramatic terror training exercise has
been taking place in Manchester with a simulated attack carried out at
the city's Trafford shopping centre.
The exercise began at midnight when a man playing the part
of a suicide bomber entered the crowded centre before pretending to
detonate a bomb.Hundreds of volunteers played the role of shoppers, screaming in panic and fleeing while others collapsed on the ground covered in fake blood.
The sound of gunfire was also heard rattling around the shops.
Emergency services including counter-terrorism police, fire and ambulance crews - who had not been told the precise nature of the exercise - rushed to the scene as if they were dealing with a real event.
The exercise has been designed to appear as real as possible to allow officials to measure the response of emergency services in the event of a real terrorist attack in the UK.
Sky News revealed on Monday that a leading police firearms unit had been "inundated" with requests from unarmed officers to retrain after the Paris attacks.
The Trafford Centre, which is the second largest shopping centre in the UK and attracts some 35 million visitors every year, will be open for business as usual this morning.
Similar exercises are expected to continue at undisclosed locations throughout the day.
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