Police conduct London's largest ever terror attack training exercise

London’s police are this week conducting the capital’s largest ever terror training exercise, preparing for a “marauding attack” less than a week after the massacre in Tunisia.
More than 1,000 police personnel, as well as intelligence officers and other emergency services, were taking part in the exercise – codenamed Strong Tower.
But the Metropolitan police stressed that the training, which will include many armed officers, was not being carried out because of any intelligence about an imminent attack and had been planned since January.
The exercise will involve London’s transport authorities, hospitals and the Ministry of Defence. The cabinet’s Cobra committee will also meet as part of the exercise.
The Met warned training would be “noisy and visible in places” and said it was vital the public was reassured that gunshots and explosions they may hear in the area were not real.
Scotland Yard’s Twitter account @metpoliceuk will be giving updates using the hashtag #999exercise.

We are taking part in a #999exercise today which will test the emergency services' response to a marauding terrorist attack in #London
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) June 30, 2015

Training is centred on the disused Aldwych tube station. Surrey Street, which runs from the Strand down to the river Thames, will be closed.
DepAst Commissioner Maxine de Brunner, who is the exercise’s director, said: “We have been planning this for many months and as it is a live play exercise some of our activity will be highly visible and audible to the public.
“Sadly London is no stranger to terrorism and we, alongside our colleagues had to deal with the tragic events of July 2005. Given the changing nature of the very real terrorism threat and events around the world, in Paris and Australia, we need to constantly adapt our plans and prepare for new and emerging threats.
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“Attacks in Paris and Australia have had an influence on the planning of the exercises, especially in relation to our own capacity and capability, and that we are ready to respond to that type of incident.”
De Brunner said she believed the capital’s police were in a “much better place” a decade on from the 7/7 bombings.
She said: “It’s absolutely vital to reach out to victims and families to send the message out that testing is a really positive act to make sure we test ourselves and we are the best we can be and we’re ready. So the fact it is near the anniversary is poignant and important.”
The exercise will finish on Wednesday afternoon.
The UK threat level was raised to its second highest level of “severe” in August 2014, meaning a terrorist attack is highly likely, linked to escalating conflicts in Iraq and Syria.
Police and security services have become increasingly alert to the possibility of attacks by “lone wolves” incited by extremist propaganda, such as the 2014 Sydney hostage-taker and the gunman at the Canadian parliament.
Similar “leaderless jihadi” attacks have tested international police forces in 2015, including the Paris attacks on magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, as well as last week’s gun rampage by a Tunisian student at a beach resort.