Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) carried out a joint anti-terror maneuver in Uzbekistan early this month, said the executive committee of the organization's anti-terror branch on Friday.

 

The exercise was aimed at improving the cooperation between relevant sectors of member states in tracking down and fighting against terrorists, so as to prevent terrorists from disrupting the political and social stability of Central Asian countries through mass attacks on major state infrastructure, said a committee official.

 

The drill, initiated and arranged by the SCO anti-terror branch, included participants from the special forces and troops of the SCO member countries.

 

The exercise focused on two important national infrastructures in the state of Tashkent, and the special forces and military troops demonstrated ways to stop terrorists from sabotaging facilities, and joint actions to recover hostages, said the official.

 

They also demonstrated joint rescue operations after a simulated mass terrorist attack on a state infrastructure.

 

According to reports, the ambassadors of China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan as well as a representative from Kazakhstan's embassy in Uzbekistan watched the exercise, which was acclaimed by them as being of a high-standard.

 

Dubbed "a new model of regional cooperation", SCO is an intergovernmental international organization which was founded in Shanghai June 15, 2001 by six countries, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It also has four observer states, including Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2006)