Scottish police chiefs have moved to quell concerns the country is not prepared for "marauder" terror attacks of the kind that hit Paris.

Senior officers stress their intelligence shows there is "no specific threat" to Scotland despite the prospect of British bombing in Syria.

But they insist they are ready to respond despite claims from their own rank-and-file, the Scottish Police Federation, that the national force is "woefully under-equipped, under-resourced and under prepared".

Police Scotland, like the rest of UK security and law enforcement, has been operating on a "severe" threat level for more than a year, meaning an attack is "highly likely".

Assistant Chief Constable Ruaraidh Nicolson said while there was no indication an attack is being planned, officers were taking the same steps as colleagues in England to fight terrorism.

He told a briefing at the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire: "We don't have a specific threat in Scotland but we wouldn't want Scotland to feel like it is the soft underbelly, so we're working in exactly the same way as south of the border.

"Are terrorists focused on Scotland at this moment in time? From the information that we have, they aren't. But does that mean we wouldn't have an attack here? I just can't say that, so we need to plan.

"We're doing a lot of work in the background, so you might not see a huge number of extra police officers on the ground, but there is a huge amount of work in the background to try to prevent this from happening in the first place."

Police have tweaked their training in recent days, however.

They are now considering the prospect of "multi-scene" marauders, when gunmen with automatic weapons carry out spree attacks on multiple peaceful targets.

But Mr Nicolson and other senior officers explained that they had been in an advanced state of readiness since before the threat level was elevated to Severe.

This includes the standard UK-wide counter terror measures, including the kind of specialist counter-terror firearms officers - essentially paramilitary police - mobilised for this month's England v France football match in London.

It also, in line with standard procedure, means that Scottish police, like their English colleagues, are training with UK special forces.

Police Scotland, however, signalled that the number of individuals who posed a threat - perhaps because they had returned from Syria - was small.

Paris has sparked a three-fold jump in the number of tip-offs about those vulnerable to radicalisation. Hate crimes have risen slightly since Paris.

The Police Federation - mindful of the danger to its own members - had called for more armed officers and pointedly warned that some Scottish politicians "lacked the maturity" to discuss guns.

There was substantial controversy early last year over armed policing - despite the fact the there are only 275 officers in the country who routinely carry guns, those who staff armed responsible vehicles (ARVs).

Assistant Chief Constable Bernie Higgins said a "significant number" of other officers were trained to use guns - but did not carry them.

Mr Higgins said: "If we had a Paris-style attack and it was in one of our major cities, then almost certainly there would be ARVs in that area.

"So there would be a response, but when you see the ferocity of the Paris attack, that's what we are training our ARV officers, in fact all our firearms officers, to understand the threat they might face."

Police Scotland and other agencies have run out more than 60 terror exercises over the last two years

One, on the eve of the Paris attacks, involved an entire day mock hostage taking on a Ryanair plane at Prestwick.