An elderly passenger fainted during the
Nigerian Air Force (NAF) counter-terrorism
exercise held on Tuesday, November 8th, at
the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,
Lagos.
The man, who is believed to be hypertensive
fainted when he heard the sound of
gunshots. However, a team of paramedics
were on hands to rescue him.
He was
immediately taken to the waiting room for
treatment.
The exercise codenamed "Thunder Bolt" was
to ascertain the readiness of the NAF to foil
terrorist attack and hostage taking at any of
the nation’s airports.
The exercise scenario
centred on hostage taking by a terrorist
group and likeliness of reinforcing to inflict
damage on air assets and other facilities.
The rescue operation was conducted in two
phases. Phase One involved dropping troops
on top of the airport terminal building from
a helicopter and accessing the building from
the roof top as well as deployment of assault
and sniper teams at vantage positions
around the airport to subdue terrorists within
the terminal building.
Phase Two was targeted at stopping would-
be terrorist reinforcement from gaining
access to the airside. The goal here is to
stop external support from reaching the
terrorists in order to safeguard air assets
packed on the apron and other airport
facilities from being destroyed.
In a situation where airport perimeter fence
has been breached and the Mobile Air
Defence Team (MADT), which usually is
integral to the standard airport defence
arrangement, is unable to effectively contain
a large number of advancing terrorists, the
exercise incorporated provision of
reinforcement to MADT by way of closed air
support (CAS) strike by Alpha Jet, as well as
rappelling of additional troops behind the
terrorists in addition to mop-up by NAF
helicopter gunship.
The Exercise, which essentially is aimed at
exercising the NAF’s counter terrorist tactics
and coordination with other agencies was
adjudged satisfactory by the Chief of the Air
Staff, Air Mshl Sadique Abubakar, and the
Secretary to the Government of Lagos State,
Mr Tunji Bello.
While fielding questions from
journalists at the end of the exercise, Air
Mshl Abubakar was quick to add that areas
of lapses or gaps observed would be
addressed with a view to perfect subsequent
exercises. Other agencies that participated in
the exercise include the Department of State
Services (DSS), Nigeria Police Force (NPF),
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
(NSCDC), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN) as well as Federal and State
Emergency Management Agencies.
Recall that the NAF held the first counter
terrorist exercise in Abuja at the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport on 7 September
2016. The NAF plans to conduct the exercise
in all the major airports across the country.
0 comments: