London 2012: SAS join gun cops in anti-terror practise raids for Olympics

ELITE troops are training to foil any terror strike on next year’s London Olympics.

SAS and SBS special forces have launched a series of practise operations to combat a Mumbai-style massacre.

They have teamed up with officers from Scotland Yard’s CO19 Firearms Command for night-time “rehearsals” of possible terrorist scenarios.

The exercises, involving four-man teams, include realistic shoot-outs using blank ammunition.

In one recent drill, commandos stormed a building just a few hundred yards from the Tower of London and “killed” a dozen soldiers posing as terrorists. Local residents heard shouting and bursts of machine gun fire after a street was cordoned off.

With the threat level of an attack at “severe”, military chiefs are determined to be prepared for any eventuality – such as the 2008 Mumbai attack when 10 heavily-armed fanatics left 164 dead.

An insider said: “It’s is all being done on the basis of ‘practise hard – fight easy’ and it makes a lot of sense.”