A live training exercise to test the response of emergency services to a marauding terrorist attack was held in Rutland yesterday.

The exercise, which was designed by Counter Terrorism Policing in the East Midlands, involved Leicestershire Police, East Midlands Ambulance Service and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and took place at St. Georges Barracks, North Luffenham.

The exercise was focused on how emergency services would respond to a marauding terrorist attack in the area. It is similar to others carried out across the country and has not been conducted in response to any specific threat or information.

The exercise involved around 100 employees from across the three emergency services.

Details of the exercise were not shared in advance to allow the emergency services to respond spontaneously as they would in a real incident. The areas where the exercise was carried out were tightly controlled to ensure limited impact on the public.

Assistant Chief Constable Julia Debenham said: "It is important for us to carry out live training exercises such as this to ensure all our emergency services are fully prepared and trained to the highest level to react in the most effective and efficient way possible should we ever face a situation such as this. We regularly carry out training in relation to critical incidents we may face in order to ensure we are doing everything we can to keep people safe.

"A lot of planning has gone into the exercise from all the emergency services teams as well as by all those who were involved in the training exercise yesterday. Our thanks go to everyone who has been involved.

"We would like to stress that similar training exercises are carried out across the country and this is not in response to any specific threat made."