Barham villagers shocked by terror threat to Islamic event

Anita Woolnough said as she came back from her early morning dog walk, there were “loads of police here, armed police, and they were shutting down the event”.

Jason Langford, who lives at Great Blakenham, said: “I’m still reeling from it, quite honestly. You just don’t expect it in rural Suffolk.”

He added: “I was amazed by the armed police, the road closures – it was absolute, absolute carnage.”

Woolnough said she initially spotted some police activity as she set off on her dog walk at about 05:25 on Sunday.

By the time she returned, there “must have been about 50” police vehicles in the area, she added.

Langford said: “They handled it really well, very calm, very methodical… You don’t normally see that in a little village like this; it’s very peaceful, but they handled it really well.

“Then a few of my neighbours started to come out to understand what was going on, but at that time we didn’t know of the terrorist threat – which is probably not a bad thing, as otherwise people start speculating.”

She was pleased to hear police were expected to stay at the scene for the next few days.