Advertisement

  1. National

Tunisia attack: British death toll confirmed as 30

All 30 Britons killed in the Tunisian beach attack have been identified, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said.

It came as the bodies of more victims were flown back to Britain, nearly a week after Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire in the resort of Sousse.

Tunisian authorities have arrested a number of people suspected of having links to the massacre.

View all 219 updates ›

'Realistic' mock terror attacks staged in London

A "very realistic" mock terrorist firearms attack is being staged in London today and tomorrow to test the emergency services' response.

A mock terrorist firearms attack is being staged in London today Credit: Met Police

The exercise has been in the planning since January and will involve a number of locations, the Metropolitan Police said.

Deputy assistant commissioner and director of the exercise Maxine de Brunner said the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and the hostage-taking siege in Sydney had an "influence" on the test.

Exercising is a vital part of our preparedness to respond to any major incident in London.

It helps us to ensure that we and all our partners are (as) ready as we can be for whatever might happen.

...We've carefully planned the live play elements of this exercise to make sure that any disruption to the public is kept to a minimum.

– Deputy assistant commissioner Maxine de Brunner

The Met said the test was in no way connected or prompted by the massacre in Tunisia last week.

More than a thousand officers from the Met will participate, but policing levels across London will remain unaffected by the exercise.

Some activity will be "highly visible and audible" to the public, as elements will be "noisy," the Met said.

More on this story