MANCHESTER United dismissed speculation on Tuesday that their Old Trafford stadium had been identified as a terror target.

Club spokesman Phil Townsend played down newspaper reports that the Premiership club was targeted by terrorist suspects arrested on Monday morning.

He said the club had received no warnings from police and refused to comment on suggestions it would be an obvious objective for terrorists planning an attack in the city.

His comments follow the arrest of 10 people of North African and Iraqi Kurdish origin who are held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism following a series of dawn raids.

Six men and a woman were arrested in Greater Manchester and three other men were arrested in Staffordshire, South Yorkshire and West Midlands.

Responding to reports that al Qaida terrorists were planning a suicide bomb plot at Old Trafford when Liverpool play a Premiership game in front of a sell-out 67,000 crowd on Saturday, Mr Townsend said: "We have not been told that Old Trafford has been identified as a target."

Sky News said on Monday the arrests are linked to a suspected terror plot, possibly targeting the Trafford Centre - Britain's biggest indoor shopping centre.

The centre has 200 shops, a selection of restaurants and an 18-lane bowling alley.

Police have been advising shopping centres and sports centres around the country on security against terror attacks.