Pak-Saudi anti-terror drill is underway in KPK’s Pabbi

RAWALPINDI, February 24: Pakistan-Saudi Arabia joint exercise Al-Samsaam-VIII-22 is underway at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Pabbi, the military said in a statement.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the two-week-long joint exercise is a series of ongoing bilateral military exercises between the Saudi forces and the Pakistan Army. “The joint exercise will focus on counter-terrorism operations including cordon and search, combat patrols and dealing with IEDs,” it added.
The statement said that the exercise provided participating troops with an opportunity to benchmark their respective operational practices and procedures as well as learn from each other’s experiences. The AL-Samsaam exercises have been conducted on a biennial basis since 2004.
In December, a joint military counter-IED (improvised explosive device) exercise, Al-Kassah-III, commenced between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia at King Khalid Military City Hafar Al-Batin in Saudi Arabia.
“The Royal Land Saudi Forces and Pakistan Army troops will practice various drills involved in counter IED operations including searching of routes, compound clearance, vehicle clearance, explosive handling and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) drills and procedures,” the military’s media wing added.
This was the third joint military exercise of the Al-Kassah series between the two countries, the military’s media wing added. The training is aimed at enhancing EOD skills in the counter-IED domain and adopting best practices. -TLTP