The UK is to send a second warship to the Gulf, in response to rising tensions in the Middle East.

HMS Diamond - a Type 45 destroyer - is en route to join the frigate HMS Lancaster.

Grant Shapps said the addition of a destroyer would bolster deterrence in the region at a dangerous time.

"It is critical that the UK bolsters our presence in the region to keep Britain and our interests safe from a more volatile and contested world."

The defence secretary said it would send a clear message to Iran and its proxies.

It comes as police say that two terrorists who opened fire at people at the entrance to Jerusalem were “neutralized” by security forces and an armed civilian.

Six wounded, moderate and serious conditions.

According to police, the pair got out of a car at around 7:40 a.m. and began to open fire at a bus stop, killing one and wounding eight others.

According to the Shin Bet [Israeli MI5], the two Palestinian terrorists who carried out the shooting attack at the entrance to Jerusalem are Hamas members, previously jailed for terror activity.

They are named as brothers Murad Namr, 38, and Ibrahim Namr, 30.

Murad was jailed between 2010 and 2020 for planning terror attacks under directions of terror elements in the Gaza Strip. Ibrahim was jailed in 2014 for undisclosed terror activity.

More to follow....