Soldiers storm Teesside shop centre in training exercise

This video shows the dramatic moment armed soldiers in camouflage stormed a Teesside shopping centre.

But the late night mission was only a training exercise.

Soldiers were using the Castlegate shopping centre in Stockton-on-Tees as part of a training exercise to improve their ‘reconnaissance skills.’ 

The operation involved soldiers from the Royal Lancers. 

Troops moved through the covered service bay underneath the shopping centre taking a discreet route up to the OP before leaving undetected

Troops had to move sneak in to the shopping centre and take a discreet route up to the observation post (OP) set up inside. 

The multi-storey building was cleared by the soldiers room-by-room, before the group navigated their way to the OP.

They then had to exit the building without being seen during the exercise in the early hours of the morning. 

Soldiers were kitted out in full camouflage uniform and carried rifles and backpacks of supplies during the exercise.  

A British Army spokesman wrote: ‘Soldiers from The Royal Lancers have been refreshing their urban reconnaissance skills on Ex Northern Lancer setting up a hidden Observation Post (OP) within Castlegate Shopping Centre, Stockton-on-Tees.

The video was uploaded to Facebook, with the clip so far being watched more than 100,000 times

‘Troops moved through the covered service bay underneath the shopping centre taking a discreet route up to the OP before leaving undetected during early hours of the morning.’

This is not the first time a major shopping centre has been used for a military exercise. 

In February, West Midlands police officers descended on the Merry Hill shopping centre in Dudley as part of a series of drills to prepare for a Paris-style gun attack. 

Actors who played victims of an attack laid strewn across the floor during the operation. 

Soldiers had to exit the building without being seen during the exercise