Nigerian army joins CIJWS to contain terrorism

Vairengte(Mizoram), Feb 20 (UNI) After US marines and Mongolian army, Nigerians are now learning techniques to tackle terrorism in an unconventional way at the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) here.

Following the devastating 9/11 terrorist attack on World Trade Centre and rebel attack on tourists in Indonesia, several countries including the US, the UK, Russia and Israel are evincing interest in getting their military personnel trained at CIJWS -- deep inside sub-tropical jungles in Mizoram.

A group of 30 Nigerian army personnel, including five high-profile officers, have joined CIJWS on January 22 for a four-week training to counter insurgency through unconventional ways.

The UK, the US, Indonesia, Australia and Cambodian army delegation are also currently here to scrutinise the training format at Vairengte and send their respective troops here by this year end.

Sanctions have already been cleared for the first batches of Australian, Myanmarese, Indonesian and Cambodian army and the process is supposed to be completed by June next in a phase wise manner.

However, training schedule for American army has not yet been finalised. A three-member delegation of American army has reached here today to hold meetings so that they get the training space shortly.

Now, many armies were looking forward to learning how to tackle the unconventional war or low intensity conflict operation, which would eventually lead to minimum loss of life during anti-terrorist operations, CIJWS commandant Rakesh Sharma told UNI.

Indian army has been tackling insurgency for a few decades in North East and Kashmir, he said adding ''by these experiences, we teach them according to the requirement of the foreign army contingent.'' MORE UNI