The Operations Wing of Hong Kong Police and the Inter-departmental Counter Terrorism Unit (ICTU) co-organised a counter-terrorism exercise codenamed "IRONWILL" in the small hours today (April 23) at the Hong Kong International Airport.
About 200 police officers participated in the exercise. ICTU’s member departments including the Customs and Excise Department, the Correctional Services Department, the Fire Services Department, the Government Flying Service and the Immigration Department also conducted a series of internal exercise in the past two weeks to test and enhance the departmental counter-terrorism response and intelligence-gathering capabilities.
Acting Senior Police Superintendent of the ICTU, Mr Leung Wai-ki, told the media that the global terrorism landscape remained complex and ever-changing in recent years. While some extreme terrorist groups still launched attacks around the world, some fictitious foreign extremists also made use of controversial issues and conduct extreme violent acts, posing security threats to those places.
Through the exercise, the ICTU aimed to raise public’s awareness about “Stay Vigilant to Bomb”, which served to enhance the citizens’ alertness on suspicious objects, and educate the public, particularly the security and property management sector, about ways to identify and properly handle suspicious objects. The safety advisory of “Run, Hide, Report” was also highlighted to remind citizens of the proper response in the event of a terrorist attack.
The exercise comprised two separate scenarios. The first scenario simulated the discovery of a suspicious object at the airport terminal, while the second scenario demonstrated an operation against a terrorist cell with its members conducting knife attacks, taking hostages and threatening to detonate a bomb at the terminal.
The "IRONWILL" exercise showcased the co-ordination and response capabilities among various police units and relevant stakeholders in response to a terrorist incident. Police will continue to step up counter-terrorism work and strengthen Hong Kong’s counter-terrorism deployment and capability, so as to guard against the breeding of local terrorism.
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