Realistic antiterror drills in Manchester

More than 800 volunteers took part in the staged attack at the Trafford Centre in Manchester on Monday night.

As part of the drill a fake suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a packed food court at the shopping centre.

The volunteers, wearing ear defenders and safety glasses, screamed out as if they were in pain as the training exercise unfolded.

A second masked gunman then appeared at the entrance to the food court and fired a number of blank rounds.

Media organizations were then taken outside to witness the arrival, five minutes later, of armed police.

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The Trafford Centre mock attack, five months in the planning, then continued in the media’s absence until 6:00.

Greater Manchester police sought to reassure people that there is no specific intelligence of an attack on the shopping centre, six miles west of Manchester city center.