German Security Forces Conduct Largest Airport Anti-Terror Drill

Berlin: The biggest ever anti-terror exercise at a German airport took place at the Cologne Bonn Airport during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. Based on a scenario of a terror attack by a group of militarily trained assailants, the drill involved about 1,000 operational forces from different departments including the special forces of the Cologne police department and the GSG 9 unit of the federal police.

Martin Pauly, press spokesman for the federal police at the Cologne Bonn Airport, told Xinhua news agency on Wednesday that “the exercise was definitely a success”. “For the first time, we were able to simulate such an attack on a German commercial airport and thus bring the police officers on-site, who are the first to encounter the attackers in an emergency, into this situation,” said Pauly. Comparable exercises have already been carried out throughout Germany, especially at railway stations. A “novelty” was the attack on an airport, Pauly said. (IANS)