Counter Terrorism Policing are investigating an attack by two inmates at HMP Whitemoor that resulted in five prison officers being taken to hospital.

The incidents, at the maximum-security jail near Cambridgeshire, reportedly involved two prisoners wearing fake suicide vests and brandishing improvised bladed weapons. One of the attackers is serving a sentence for a terrorism offence while the other had been jailed for a violent offence.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon, Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), has now confirmed the matter is being treated as a terrorist attack and the investigation continues at pace.

HMP Whitemoor is a 458-capacity maximum security prison housing more than 400 Category A and B prisoners on three wings, including a number of the highest-risk inmates.