A mock terrorist attack has been carried out at one of the UK`s busiest shopping centers, in a marauding assault similar to the Paris and Brussels atrocities, according to The Guardian.
More than 800 volunteers took part in the staged attack at the Trafford Centre in Manchester on Monday night, The Guardian reported.
As part of the drill a fake suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a packed food court at the shopping center.
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.
Two police marksmen moved towards the mock terrorist, ignoring the injured in a new tactic to save lives outlined by Scotland Yard following a similar training exercise in December.
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.
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