Joint Military Exercises of India, British Troops Begin in Kashmir

By Fayaz Wani

Srinagar, Sept 17: Joint exercises between the elite soldiers of Indian and British armed forces began at the mountainous Ladakh region of the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir, today.

Named as "Himalayan Warrior", the joint exercise between the soldiers of two countries will continue till October 11. About 150 British royal marines arrived from Afghanistan where they are battling against the Islamic Taliban militants, who of late have increased their activities.

The elite soldiers of the two countries started the joint exercises from today. The exercises to be conducted during the three week action include commando actions like surprise hit and run raids by self contained small bands of troops operating at extreme heights of more than 3,500 metres.

Sources said that the emphasis of the joint exercises will be to improve the ability of soldiers to operate at heights above 15,000 feet.

"Keeping in view the importance of mountain warfare in the present day world, the British elite soldiers will learn more about the mountain warfare", a senior Indian army officer told Newsblaze. The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on this matter, said that these joint military exercises are not new. "We have held joint air exercises and now would be holding joint military exercises to make the soldiers of two countries gain expertise in mountain warfare, which is very important in today's battlegrounds", he added.

The Islamic Taliban militants are said to have set-up a network of underground tunnels in the mountains in Afghanistan and plan attacks on the coalition forces from these tunnels.

Even the Al-Qaeda chief, Osama Bin Laden a few yeas back was said to have been trapped in a mountainous region at Tora Bora but managed to give the slip to coalition forces.

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.

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