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Hundreds in big anti-terror drill

Shanghai Daily, September 15, 2011

• Single-handed reloading, airborne raids and precise sniping were not movie scenes but reality shows of the SWAT corps of Shanghai police in a counterterrorism drill yesterday.

  Special policemen practice shooting during an anti-terror drill in Shanghai, Sept 14, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

  
  
  

  Hundreds of well-trained SWAT officers from the districts of Xuhui, Huangpu, Putuo, Zhabei, Songjiang, Fengxian and Yangpu as well as the Pudong New Area participated in the drill yesterday. It was the city's biggest counterterrorism drill in recent years, police said.

  The SWAT officers first went through 15 kinds of actions, including rapid close fire, bend guns fire and air landing breakthrough.

  "The building of our SWAT corps was aimed to match the development of such a super-sized city as Shanghai," said Wu Jie, deputy director of the SWAT corps of Shanghai police. "Our goal is to do whatever we can to keep the city safe and stable."

  Marksmanship skills were shown during the multi-distance sniping section. Snipers were able to hit a 3-millimeter wide blade at 50 meters, an egg at 100 meters and a can at 200 meters.

  Police said such sniping would enable them to handle situations such as a bus hijacking when the SWAT squads are not able to approach the target.

  "We have to hit the target and do not allow failure," said a sniper who used to be a professional shooting athlete. "It's very much harder than shooting competitions. If we failed, the mission would be failed and the hostages' lives could be in danger, so we must hit the target."

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