THE Army have been called in to help gardai prepare for IS terror attacks here.

The Defence Forces and cops have teamed up to run a series of anti-terror drills.

2 Ready... special forces Credit: PA:Press Association

A total of 64 people have been killed in terror attacks in Istanbul, London, St Petersburg and Stockholm so far this year.

The most recent horrific attack saw 22 people lose their lives and 59 left injured after an attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester last night.

Earlier this month, gardai from the Counter Terrorism International unit arrested two men suspected of being involved in an IS cell group while last month a couple were arrested in Waterford accused of fundraising for the terrorist organisation.

In response to a parliamentary question, it was revealed that top officers from our police force regularly link up with army officials to update a range of contingency plans, assess terror threats and ­organise joint anti-terror exercises for gardai and the troops.

2 Defence Minister of State Paul Kehoe Credit: RollingNews.ie

Gardai can also call on the Defence Forces for a broad range of supports including the use of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team and the Army Ranger Wing.

Defence Minister of State Paul Kehoe confirmed to Fianna Fail’s Defence spokesperson Lisa Chambers there is “very active cooperation” between the Gardai and the Defence Forces in preparing for a potential international terror attack when she raised the issue in the Dail last week.

Mayo TD Chambers believes the recent arrests of people linked to IS here show we need to be ready for any possible attack.

She told the Irish Sun: “There is a potential threat there for any country and we’re no different.

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“There have been a number of incidents here in the past couple of months and it just goes to show you that we are no different to any other jurisdiction and there is a potential threat here as well.

“The Gardai and the Defence Forces have key skills and expertise in both ­organisations that very much complement each other.

“Both organisations have a similar objective and it makes absolute sense, where appropriate, that they would work together in the interest of securing the State and protecting our citizens.

“It would be very naive of us as a State not to prepare in some way but I don’t think we should be living in fear or be overly concerned.

“I think we have the skills and ability to do the planning that needs to be done to protect the State and we need to be doing that.”