Explosions & gunfire rock British shopping centre in terrorist attack drill

British police and security forces staged a mock militant attack on a shopping centre in northern England on Tuesday (May 10). With Britain's terrorism alert currently at 'severe' - meaning the authorities consider an attack is highly likely - the Trafford Centre in Manchester was selected for the staged suicide bombing. All the emergency services were involved in the exercise, designed to prepare a response to attacks like the ones in Paris in November and Belgium in March. An attacker dressed in black and shouting a religious phrase entered the centre and a thunderflash representing a bomb blew up. Greater Manchester Police have since apologised for linking the exercise with Islam, after the police were criticised on social media following the drill.