More anti-terrorism measures needed

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-13 09:12

The country's top police officer has asked for tightened anti-terrorism measures in the wake of the attacks in Mumbai, while Chinese and Indian troops continued their anti-terror drill on Friday.

Speaking to a national coordination team on anti-terrorism on Thursday, Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu pointed to the need to keep a high alert on potential threats, particularly from the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) in the country's northwestern region.

The ETIM was identified by the United Nations as a terrorist organization in 2002.

The recent attacks in Mumbai, India, again provided clear evidence that terrorist forces are still active in areas surrounding China, Meng said.

At least 188 people were killed and 293 were injured in the Mumbai attacks.

"We must fully estimate the negative impact possibly brought about by the incident (in India) and seriously learn lessons from it," he said.

Meng also called for a rise in public anti-terror awareness, saying anti-terror knowledge should be part of primary and middle school education.

While police are beefing up anti-terror efforts, military forces are also tightening international cooperation to combat terrorism.

Sino-Indian drill

On Friday, Chinese and Indian troops continued their anti-terror military drill as soldiers began to cordon and search for "terrorists" in villages after marching to the target area overnight.

In this handout photograph from the Indian Ministry of Defence, Chinese and Indian soldiers enter a simulated militant hideout during a joint anti-terror drill held at Belgaum, India. Chinese and Indian troops completed their joint exercise on Friday, with both sides agreeing it was 'successful and effective'. [Agencies] more photos

It was the third and final stage of the joint anti-terror military training between the two sides, which ran from last Saturday to Friday.

The scenario for Friday's drill was that a group of "international terrorists" secretly entered two villages in the forest of northwestern Belgaum. The anti-terror soldiers had to "catch or kill" them without hurting innocent villagers.

The troops first searched one village, "shooting to death" one "terrorist" and arresting two others. After interrogation of the two "terrorists", the company was told six to eight others, along with their zonal commander, were hiding in two buildings in another village.

The commanding officer immediately sent two MI-8 helicopters with a quick reaction team to the village, and soldiers abseiled from the aircraft.

After searching and fighting, they "killed" six "hard-core terrorists including the zonal commander" and recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition. The entire drill was completed at 10 am local time, an hour ahead of schedule.

Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian, head of the Chinese military observer delegation, said the drill was "successful and effective".

Anti-terrorism experts spoke highly of the drills, saying they will help nip problems in the bud and improve emergency response capacity.

"Countries should also improve intelligence sharing, which is key to fighting terrorism," Li Wei, director of the anti-terrorism research center of China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said.

China Daily-Xinhua