RAF Mildenhall: Shots fired by US guards during ‘security incident’

A man has been arrested following a “security incident” involving a vehicle checkpoint at RAF Mildenhall, an airbase used by the US air force.

A Ministry of Defence source told Sky News that “a man driving a car tried to force the vehicle into the barriers at the entrance” to the Suffolk base, home to more than 3,000 US service personnel and several hundred British civilian staff.

Shots were fired by American guards during the incident, but the detained man sustained only cuts and bruises, Suffolk Police said in a statement. “No other people have been injured as a result of the incident.”

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The Suffolk base went into lockdown at around 1pm, according to a statement posted on RAF Mildenhall’s Facebook page.

The lockdown has since been lifted and the security alert officially declared over, but police are still advising people to avoid the area.

Sky’s defence correspondent, Alistair Bunkall, said: "It was described to me as some sort of argument at the base gates.”

"Police are continuing to deal with an ongoing incident at RAF Mildenhall,” Suffolk Police said in a Twitter post, adding that they believed there is “no wider threat to the public or occupants on the base”.

“One man has been arrested and police are not looking for anyone else on the site,” the police added.