Armed police stormed Grand Central and the Bullring in a massive pre-Christmas anti-terror training exercise .

Dramatic photographs showed officers with guns pointed on the escalators and shoppers diving for cover outside shops.

In other images, a man had his hands up as groups of officers moved through the shopping centre.

Ambulance crews in full protective gear tended to a patient lying on the ground outside Costa Coffee.

The live role-play exercise began just before midnight on Sunday and continued until the early hours of Monday.

West Midlands Police stressed it was a pre-planned exercise to test the response of all emergency partners to a major incident and not in response to any specific threat or intelligence.

Seven things which always happen to you in the Bullring

Assistant Chief Constable Gareth Cann said: “This is the latest in a series of exercises that we have carried out to test our ability to deal with large scale incidents.

“Recent national and international events highlight the importance of public organisations testing their emergency response procedures to reassure the safety of the communities we serve.

“The UK threat level remains at severe which means that an attack is highly likely, although there is no specific threat to our region it is imperative that we are ready to deal with such an attack if required.

“I would like to thank everyone who took part in the exercise, particularly the Bullring and Grand Central.”

The force was approached by Hammerson, which manages both the Bullring and Grand Central, to help test its security plans.

The force worked with the fire and ambulance Service, Birmingham City Council, Network Rail, British Transport Police and other commercial partners.

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Armed police previously carried out a similar exercise at the giant Merry Hill shopping centre, near Dudley.

Officers were pictured taking cover outside a Nando’s restaurant at the mall as part of the scenario.