BELGAUM: The Jain Heritage School on Friday was swarming with police personnel and commandos as 'terrorists' had taken three people 'hostage'. After two hours of tense battle between the 'terrorists' and commandos, the day ended on a happy note with the rescue of the 'hostages'.
Don't get alarmed-this was part of a mock drill. The Garuda Force of the Centre for Counter Terrorism, Bangalore, along with the Quick Reaction Team of Northern Range conducted a series of counter terror operations and mock drill at the Jain Heritage School. Around 70 commandos demonstrated rescue operations by simulating a terror scene at the school. The mock drill had planning, negotiation, execution and co-ordination with local officers.
The scene unfolded thus: All of a sudden, four 'terrorists' came to the school and took three persons hostage and kept them in the second floor of an underconstruction school building. They then demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore and release of a terrorist lodged at Hindalga Jail in exchange for the three they had taken hostage. They then sent a 'hostage' along with their contact number and list of demands. The police carried out negotiations with the 'terrorists' for a few minutes. When talks failed, the police decided to go all out in their efforts to rescue the remaining two 'hostages'. After nearly two hours of battle, the commandos of Garuda Force and the just-trained policemen along with the city police 'rescued' the 'hostages'. During the battle, two 'terrorists' were 'killed' and two were 'arrested'.
Officials from the telecommunication, corporation, district health office, Hescom, fire service and other departments concerned were also involved in the drill.
After the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, the Union home minister had instructed all state governments to have a special police force to tackle terror activities. Accordingly, the state government had formed the Garuda Force. This Force is now training select police personnel, called the Quick Reaction Team, at Peranwadi Training School in Belgaum. The team comprises 144 police personnel and 14 police officers from across the Northern Range.
MV Ramkrishna Prasad, during his one-hour lecture, explained how and what is to be done when terrorists strike. He also mentioned the role of the police stations and the immeidate role of the police officers.
Caption: Garuda Police Force and newly trained Quick Response Team seen taking position to attack terrorist who are holed up in the first floor of underconstruction building jain heritage school.
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