Manchester Terror Attack: Up to 3, 800 troops to be deployed on UK's streets

As many as 3, 800 troops will be deployed on the streets of the UK in the wake of the Manchester terror attack.
Police at the scene after the attack.Police at the scene after the attack.
Police at the scene after the attack.

Theresa May raised the UK's terror threat level to "critical" - the highest possible - meaning more attacks may be imminent.

Military personnel will now be deployed to protect key sites as a result of the new threat level. The Home Office has not indicated yet where soldiers will be deployed in our region.

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Home Secretary Amber Rudd confirmed up to 3, 800 military personnel will be on the streets but added she "absolutely" expects the critical threat level to be temporary.

Mrs Rudd also said there would be an "uplift" in Prevent, the government's anti-radicalisation programme, after June. This had already been planned before Monday's attack, she added.

Police have named Salman Ramadan Abedi as the man responsible for the attack at Manchester Arena on Monday night, which left 22 people dead, including Sheffield woman Kelly Brewster, and dozens injured. Of those injured, 20 remain in critical care in Manchester hospitals after suffering horrific injuries including major organ damage and potential loss of limbs.

Mrs Rudd said the suicide bomber was known "up to a point" by the intelligence services. Investigators have so far been unable to rule out whether Abedi - understood to be a 22-year-old born in Manchester to parents of Libyan descent - was part of a group.

The highest threat level, which is decided by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre - a group of experts from the police, government departments and agencies - has only been reached twice before.