Sharon Cullen, 49, was at home in Boaler Street, off Sutcliffe Street, yesterday afternoon when she heard shouts of “Get down, get down”.

She said she looked out of her rear window and saw armed officers surrounding a property in Sutcliffe Street.

Mrs Cullen said: “I saw around five or six of them and two went round the back and put ladders against the wall and climbed up.”

Police had earlier told her family to stay indoors.

She said: “It was terrible. It’s not how I wanted to spend my Sunday afternoon.”

Mrs Cullen said she and her husband, 22-year-old daughter and two-year-old son grandson were evacuated from their home at about 9.45pm.

She said: “The police pounded on my door and an officer said ‘we need to get you out of the house as soon as possible’.

“They said ‘whatever is going on at the back of the house, it could blow the block’.

“It was really frightening.”