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Tunisia-Style Attack Simulated On London Street

Armed police have been testing their response to a Tunisia-style gun rampage on the streets of London, as the Government warns an attack on the UK is highly likely.

Gunmen armed with automatic rifles were seen striding through the capital firing at by-standers in a simulation of an attack similar to that seen in Sousse or Mumbai in 2008.

Sky's Mark White said the exercise involved training for a scenario very similar to the attack in north Africa last Friday, in which up to 30 UK nationals are feared to have died.

He said: "The scenario is that three gunmen armed with automatic rifles have attacked members of the public. They disappeared into a building and have then come back out shooting again.

"An armed response vehicle that as part of the scenario was passing by. Two officers were in the front of that vehicle and were shot by the gunmen.

"The gunmen then went into the Tube station itself. They have been pursued by other armed officers.

"There are about two dozen ... armed officers down in the Tube station, having been involved in a simulated gun battle with the would-be terrorists."

Some streets around the Aldwych area of central London were closed to allow first responders to deal with a simulated attack on members of the public and emergency services.

Operation Strong Tower involved more than 1,000 officers in what the Metropolitan Police said was a "multi-agency exercise to test the emergency services' response to a marauding terrorist firearms attack in London".

The Met added that the exercise had been many months in the planning and was not a response to the events in Tunisia, or any specific intelligence of an attack in the UK.

Ever since the gun and grenade massacre in Mumbai, UK police and security services have feared a similar attack here.

The Mumbai atrocity left more than 160 dead and 300 injured after a group of terrorists went on the rampage, shooting and bombing their way through a railway station, shopping centre and hotels.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Maxine de Brunner hailed the event as a success.

She said: "What it shows is that we are ready in the event of an attack and that we are testing ourselves and we are testing our interoperability with other agencies and where we don't get things quite right, that we take that learning and we try to be as good as we can be in the event of anything coming to London."

The threat level in the UK from international terrorism was raised to 'severe' last autumn, the second highest level.

'Severe' means a terrorist attack is highly likely and reflects the increased threat from the likes of the so-called Islamic State terror group in Syria and Iraq.

As the UK prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London, intelligence analysts have warned the threat of an attack is greater now than it has been for many years.

However, experts say the main threat now is focused on less sophisticated knife and gun attacks, like the murder of fusilier Lee Rigby in southeast London in 2013.

More than 700 young Muslim men and some women have travelled to Syria and Iraq in recent months to join up with groups including IS.

The Government believes about half that number have already returned to Britain and that some will pose a threat to the public.

Surrey Street in central London is likely to remain closed for several hours.