Singapore holds largest-ever surprise attack drill
ninemsn.com
Sunday Jan 8 13:14 AEDT
Singapore on Sunday conducted its largest-ever surprise security
drill, staging mock bombings and a simulated chemical attack to
test readiness for an extremist strike on the city-state.
Police cars with sirens wailing raced through the dark pre-dawn
streets and a blast could be heard from within the Toa Payoh subway
station as the exercise got underway.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that along with Toa
Payoh, three other central subway stations -- Dhoby Ghaut, Raffles
Place and Marina Bay -- were hit by near-simultaneous mock bomb
blasts and a simulated chemical attack.
The city's transit system came under threat of a real attack in
2001, officials have said, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in
his New Year's address warned the nation to brace for a possible
"terrorist attack" which would threaten economic growth in
Southeast Asia's most developed country.
Officials had kept secret the precise timing of the exercise,
codenamed Northstar V.
SCDF, which operates the city's emergency ambulance and fire
services, said the scenario for the drill was similar to the July 7
attacks on London's subway system and a bus, in which 52 commuters
and four apparent suicide bombers died.
"Help! Help! Help!" the would-be victims screamed from inside a
still-smoking train at Toa Payoh station after the simulated
bombing.
Officials used mannequins as well as live "victims" stained with
fake blood. Some collapsed on the platform while others were
wounded inside the train, their "severed" limbs lying nearby.
SCDF personnel removed the victims on stretchers.
At the bus interchange outside, rifle-toting police officers
guarded the scene after a double-decker bus was hit by a mock bomb
that left 42 people "wounded" and fake blood and debris strewn
about the roadway as rain fell.
"We tried to simulate as close as possible," one SCDF official
said.
Emergency services personnel were not pre-positioned ahead of the
simulation but responded as if they had received an actual
emergency call, he noted.
"We are playing real-time," the official said.
Local radio reported that "grieving" relatives had arrived in tears
at a victim assistance centre.
When a fake bomb went off at Dhoby Ghaut station commuters escorted
by SCDF personnel had to leave their train through the back door
and walk through a tunnel for about 100 metres (yards), local radio
reported, quoting a witness.
A simulated chemical attack later occurred at Dhoby Ghaut, leaving
about 40 people collapsed on the platform, radio reported.
One commuter, Jess Fung, was on her way to work when one of the
blasts occurred. She said civil defence officers had boarded her
train to advise passengers of the exercise, so she was not
afraid.
"You know it's not the real thing," Fung said.
The drill lasted for three hours and led to the shutdown of 13
subway stations, including those targeted by the mock attackers,
SCDF said.
"This exercise is part of the ongoing efforts to sharpen the
operational readiness of the Homefront agencies in responding to
multiple terror attacks," SCDF said in a statement.
It said 22 agencies were participating in the drill which also
served to prepare commuters "in knowing how to react in similar
crisis situations."
But SCDF cautioned that the exercise did not mean Singapore faces
the threat of an imminent attack.
Officials have said that in 2001, extremists planned to attack a
bus carrying Americans to Yishun subway station but the attack was
foiled when authorities arrested 15 people including members of the
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network.
The city-state, a staunch US ally, has stepped up security on fears
it will be a target for attack by regional and international
extremist groups.
More than 30 Muslim Singaporeans suspected of JI membership are
being held under the Internal Security Act, which allows for
detention without trial.
Authorities have blamed JI for a string of attacks including the
2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, which killed
202 people.
