Brussels attacks: Tell us what terror risks we are facing in the West Midlands, MP demands

Paris terror mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud was believed to have visited Birmingham, as well as London just days before gunmen and suicide bombers went on the rampage in the French capital in November, killing 130.

Abaaoud, who was later killed during a police raid, had a photo of the iconic Bullring shopping centre on his mobile phone, it was claimed.

Meanwhile French authorities also say that Mohamed Abrini, the only Paris terrorist still at large, visited the Birmingham area in July, just months before playing a part in the planning of the Brussels bombings that claimed 35 lives and left hundreds injured.

Belgian national Abrini, aged 31, is said to have taken photographs of an unidentified football stadium during his visit to the region.

It comes as fears intensified that hundreds of potential terror suspects are under surveillance in the West Midlands.

Theresa May has yet to rule out claims Abaaoud was in the area.

Now Steve McCabe, the Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, has accused the Government of offering up only 'titbits' of information and urged the Home Secretary to outline the threat facing his constituents.

He is said to have demanded to know who Abaaoud and Abrini were meeting during their respective visits and what they were doing in the city.

Mr McCabe said: "We need a more explicit explanation of what the risk is in the West Midlands, what the connections are between people who are being watched and people who are known terrorists.

"At the very least the Government and police should be offering MPs and the representatives of the people of Birmingham a private security briefing that is a bit more explicit than the titbits they are feeding folk at the moment.

"The impression that's conveyed is that they are watching hundreds of people in different parts of the West Midlands."

According to reports he has pressed Mrs May for a response over claims Abaaoud may have met extremists in Birmingham in October – a month before the Paris massacre.

He also asked whether others involved in the Brussels Airport and Metro station killings had been in the area.

Theresa May is said to have told him she was unable to release details due to the 'ongoing investigation' taking place in Brussels.

The West Midlands is considered to be a region of particular interest to the UK security services. Birmingham's metropolitan area has been classified as second only to east London in terms of the level of activity regarding potential terror suspects.

Of the region's population of 5.6 million, 376,000 are Muslim. The day after the Brussels attacks, two men from Walsall were charged with helping to fund terrorism.

The revelations come as police continue hunting for at least eight terror suspects, the majority of whom are believed to be in Europe, making nine arrests during 13 separate raids over the weekend.

Three men, named as as Yassine A, Mohamed B and Aboubaker O, were charged with belonging to a terrorist group.

Abrini is said to have made the trip to Britain in July, just four months before his terror cell launched a merciless attack on the Stade de France and other buildings in the French capital.

He is on the run, and may be one of the unidentified accomplices in the Brussels atrocities on Tuesday. Belgian police have released CCTV footage to try to identify the third attacker at Brussels airport, whose bomb did not explode and who fled.