A 35-year-old man is still being questioned, 36 hours after he was arrested by anti-terrorist officers in a dramatic dawn raid in Bury.

Special Branch detectives, supported by riot police in full body armour, stormed the flat of the North African asylum-seeker, who has been living in Deal Street since last summer.

Around 30 officers carried out the raid at 5am on Wednesday (Jan 29), targeting a first-floor flat near the Turf Hotel in Wash Lane.

Residents were woken as police smashed their way into the flat, which is believed to have been shared by two men, both of Moroccan appearance.

One man was led away in handcuffs and taken by Anti-Terrorist Branch officers to London where he has been questioned under the Terrorism Act 2000. The whereabouts of his flatmate is not known.

The early-morning swoop in Bury was one of three raids carried out simultaneously by Greater Manchester Police's Tactical Aid Unit in conjunction with the Special Branch and Anti-Terrorist Branch officers from the Metropolitan Police.

Two other men, aged 30 and 32, were arrested as a result of the raids on addresses in Hulme. A fourth man, aged 31, was detained later on Wednesday in Stretford.

The arrests are not connected with the recent murder of Detective Constable Stephen Oake, but were part of on-going investigations nationwide into terrorism.

Special Branch officers carried out what they described as a "routine search" of the Deal Street flat, removing certain items throughout Wednesday morning while neighbours, many of them elderly, told how they were roused by the sound of police using a battering ram to force open the front door of the property.

One female resident said: "It was quite dramatic. I heard a lot of noise and when I looked out of the window I saw three police vans and a number of people getting out of unmarked cars. The place was swarming.

"The police officers were all wearing body armour and had their faces masked." She said she did not notice any weapons.

Other residents said two men, perhaps Moroccan, had moved into the flat during the summer. One commented: "They kept themselves pretty much to themselves. They were clean shaven, well-dressed and there was nothing unusual about them."

Police chiefs in Bury are keen to allay any public fears in the area.

Chief Inspector David Wolfe, head of police operations in Bury, said: "The raid was an isolated one in the borough and was part of a major investigation across the country into suspect terrorists. I would urge residents to remain calm and keep an open mind about the matter."