A SUSPECTED gun terror plot to target families attending a leisure complex has been foiled by anti-terror police. The jihadi plan was to target an activity park and open fire on visitors, it is understood.
Armed counter-terrorism officers acting on intelligence yesterday raided properties
Such an attack on a soft target could have killed more people than the 22 victims of the suicide bomb attack on Manchester Arena last May.
Armed counter-terrorism officers acting on intelligence yesterday raided properties in an "extremist hotspot", the Savile Town district of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Last night two men aged 52 and 21 - believed to be a father and son - were being quizzed after their arrest on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
The men live close to the former home of 7/7 ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan who masterminded the London suicide bombings in 2005 that killed 56 people, including the four attackers.
Savile Town was also home to Talha Asmal, who at 17 became the UK's youngest ever suicide bomber when he helped kill 11 people in co-ordinated car bombs in Iraq in 2015.
Months earlier he had fled the UK to join IS extremists in Syria along with his neighbour Hassan Munshi, also 17.
Munshi's brother Hammaad became Britain's youngest convicted terrorist at 15 when he was arrested by counter terrorism police in 2006 and later found guilty over his role in a plot to murder non-Muslims.
Savile Town, which has seven mosques, is one of the most racially homogeneous parts of Britain with almost no white residents left living there.
In a detailed breakdown of the last census of 2011 the Islamic enclave, geographically isolated from the rest of Dewsbury by a loop in the River Calder, showed that a community of 2,226 people had 2,111 Muslims and just 14 white Britons, only five of whom described themselves as Christian.
Yesterday police activity centred on two houses, 300 yards apart on Headfield Road with armed guards patrolling the street.
Neighbours said an elderly woman used to live at one address until her death and the house has since been rented out, with the blinds always kept closed and few people seen coming and going.
Locals said there had been a raid, or police activity, at this property a couple of months ago.
Further down the street forensics officers wearing purple gloves could be seen going in and out of another property.
Mother-of-three Mamona Hussain, 41, lives across the street from the red brick semi-detached bungalow.
She said: "Every month something has happened over there. This is a lovely road, with no trouble at all, apart from across there.
"There have been boys shooting guns one time. One white Audi came and someone fired a shot and then drove away."
Mrs Hussain said at about 12.30am they were woken by loud voices.
She said: "It was police shouting, I think through a loud hailer, and then we saw armed police.
"We've been here two years and we never thought anything would happen like this. It is very bad.
"My son was scared. He was shaking and his heart was really beating."
The North East Counter-Terrorism Unit said: "The public may have heard loud bangs.
"This was part of the method of entry to gain access. The arrests were pre-planned and part of a proactive, intelligenceled investigation."
West Yorkshire Police said: "We will continue to serve and protect the public. Public safety is our utmost concern."
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