Firearms officers responded to more than 100 incidents in north Wales last year.

Home Office figures show North Wales Police deployed armed officers in 119 operations in the year to March, up slightly from 114 the year before.

Officers have been called to 517 incidents in the past five years.

There was a 4% drop in the number of operations across England and Wales – from 18,400 in 2022-23 to 17,589 last year.

The Metropolitan Police and West Midlands Police were responsible for the greatest number of operations, carrying out 19% and 12% of them respectively.

Dr Peter Squires from the Gun Control Network said the fall in the number of deployments "reflects a welcome fall in the frequency of incidents requiring police armed attendance".

Figures show there were 38 officers trained to use firearms in north Wales, a rise on 35 a year earlier. Despite this, firearms were "intentionally discharged" at a person just twice in 2023-24, compared to 10 times a year earlier.

The Home Office notes it is the sixth consecutive year that the number of operationally deployable firearms officers has fallen, with 5,861 available across England and Wales. This was down from 6,621 in 2019.