Days after a gun attack killed British tourists holidaying at a Tunisian beach resort, police and other emergency services are holding a major drill in London, simulating a terrorist attack with firearms to see how the city’s various agencies respond.
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The exercise’s director, deputy assistant commissioner
Maxine de Brunner {
-588758649} “This exercise will be an on-going fast-paced terrorist situation and we will explore how we as London’s agencies respond”.
The Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and the hostage-taking siege in Sydney had an influence on the test, which involves 14 organizations and will continue through Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the tactical response on the ground will be visible to media and passers-by outside the disused Aldwych underground station in Surrey Street which is closed for the day.
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The Sun newspaper said police foiled an attack on a London parade Saturday after an undercover reporter who obtained details on the plot alerted counter-terrorism officials.
It’s the biggest counter-terrorism exercise in its history and is created to improve the emergency services response.
The Metropolitan Police began planning the two-day event in January and only a dozen people know the full script to ensure that the officers and other services taking part face the maximum challenge.
However, the Metropolitan Police service has stated that, while the exercise is partially created to prepare for such events, it was planned six months in advance of the Tunisia attack taking place.
The last comparable exercise of this nature was held in London in 2012.
Scotland Yard will be posting updates about the exercise to Twitter, using the hashtag #999exercise.
“I would just like to stress to you all, it is not being carried out in response to any specific intelligence”.
She went on: “We don’t want the public to be concerned about what we are doing”.
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“We put a huge amount of effort into our planning and the exercise it to test out assumptions and how a large number of agencies all work together”.
