SINGAPORE — As part of a regional maritime security and counterterrorism exercise that is taking place in Singapore, a Special Force Task Group comprising 14 special operation teams seized control of a simulated terrorist stronghold at a training area near Lim Chu Kang.

In the action-packed exercise, the “terrorists” were taken down by the special forces teams that included members of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).

The simulation was the final operation for the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM-Plus) Maritime Security and Counter Terrorism Exercise that began on May 2.

Co-hosted by the SAF and Royal Brunei Armed Forces, participant nations include the 10 Asean countries as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.

The Special Force Task Group deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to scout for territorial information, and later, explosives were detonated in the forest nearby to serve as a distraction while the group rushed in using helicopters and ground vehicles fitted with ramps that could reach up to the third floor of a building. Following the firefight between the group and the “terrorists”, a remotely operated vehicle was deployed to help a personnel disengage the explosives found.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who was there to observe the operations, said that the exercise was a “positive signal”: “If your sea lines of communication are disrupted, or if terrorists embed themselves (in) Asean, that will cause a loss of confidence (in the region). It will affect economic vitality, it will affect businesses, and above all, the safety of citizens of Asean countries.”

On the transnational reach of maritime and terrorism problems, Dr Ng said: “You can’t afford to take just a completely nationalistic view and say, ‘Oh, this doesn’t affect my borders now’. Sooner or later it will, and I think that’s why it makes more sense to cooperate as a regional block for these problems.”

The closing ceremony of the exercise will be held on Tuesday (May 8) at the Changi Naval Base, but reviews of the operations will continue to take place until Thursday when the regional meeting ends.

About 3,500 participants, 40 assault teams, 25 aircraft and 18 ships took part in the exercise.