Residents were left concerned after a series of loud bangs were heard across their village.

Some villagers in Sible Hedingham feared they were under attack after loud bangs and gun fire were heard for several weeks.

Residents reported hearing the noises every day at the same time in the afternoon and took to Facebook to express their thoughts.

Kylie Kirby, who has lived in the village for four years, said: “I heard boom like sounds.

“Obviously with everything that is going on around the world I'm a little uneasy but I am a bit of a scaredy cat anyway.

“I've never heard it untill this week.

“It made me a little nervous.”

Zoe Jaz Jai added: “It went straight through us and a couple of times has shaken the house.”

Another resident said: “It sounded like someone dropped a skip on the neighbour’s drive.”

Tracey Williams added: “It sounded like someone had dropped a shipping container from a great height.”

Tracy Goodchild said: “There were two massive bangs.

“They made me jump out of my skin.”

An MOD spokesman said: “Between November 9 to 20, some exercises took place on the MOD Police site at Wethersfield, involving the use of controlled explosives, flares and blank small arms fire.

“In all cases, the noise ceased by 7.30pm.

“Residents in the immediate locality of the site were forewarned by letter.

“These sorts of exercise are routine for the force.

“The 1,000-acre Wethersfield site, which has always been used for police training, is very suitable for a range of exercises, including the initial firearms training given to all our new recruits.”

This is not the first time villagers have felt under attack, after a convoy of tanks was seen heading through on its way to the air base in October.

The tanks had been seized as part of an MOD police operation as it is believed they had been acquired illegally by a private collector.