(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-25 09:23

KUNMING -- Chinese and Indian armies began an anti-terrorism military drill in southwest China Tuesday morning, the third and also the last stage of their first-ever five-day joint anti-terrorism military training.

The military drill began at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday at a hilly terrain near Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, with the participation of 206 ground troops from the two armies.

It is designed that 56 "terrorists" from "a certain international terrorism organization" have entered the border area of China and India. They "established" a training base and intended to attack a trading port on the border between the two countries.

The finale manoeuver involves establishing a joint command post, joint battle decision-making, implementation of anti-terrorism operation before wiping out a group of "terrorists" and rescuing "hostages."

The Chinese and Indian troops broke into the "training camp of the terrorists" at 9:25 a.m. and began to rescue "hostages" at 10:25 a.m..

About 10 minutes later, the drill ended with "terrorists" subdued and "hostages" rescued and brought to a safe place.

Helicopters, tanks, trench mortars and grenade launchers have been employed in the drill, according to sources with the drill headquarters.

The drill last more than three hours and ended 25 minutes ahead of schedule.

A closing ceremony was held at 11:00 a.m. to mark the conclusion of the Sino-Indian joint anti-terrorism military training code-named "Hand-in-Hand 2007".

Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian and Lieutenant General Susheel Gupta, respectively head of the Chinese and Indian military observer delegation, inspected the troops who took part in the joint training.

They also issued certificates and medals to each other's soldiers.

The anti-terrorism military training, which began on Friday morning, is being carried out to implement the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding for Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of Defense signed between the defense ministries of China and India on May 29, 2006.

The joint training was intended to enhance mutual understanding and trust, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Thursday.

Qin also said the training also aimed to strengthen the two countries' exchanges in the field of anti-terrorism, deter the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, and promote the development of the bilateral strategic partnership.

"This joint military training does not aim at any third party," said Zhou Xiaoyi, an official with the foreign affairs office under the Ministry of National Defence.

Before Tuesday's finale drill, Chinese and Indian soldiers had displayed their respective weapons and equipment, jointly accomplished a series of training tasks including psychological training and tactics trainings.