The Counter Terrorism Unit testing their drills and skills at the Exercise Eagle Eye
The 64 Infantry Regiment (64 Inf Reg) of the Ghana Army last Saturday held the second edition of their on-site counter terrorism training exercise at the Ecobank Head Office in Accra.
The training exercise codenamed ‘EXERCISE EAGLE EYE,’ which was started February last year, tests the response mechanism of the military’s Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) to terrorist attacks. It takes place against the backdrop of heightened deadly terrorist attacks in Mali and Burkina Faso. The response exercise entails the random choice of high rise buildings and simulating terrorist attacks.
At the Head Office of Ecobank Ghana Limited, the CTU received a distress call that elements of a Jihadist group operating in the Sahel Region had successfully crossed the border and stormed the Ecobank Head Office, where they had held staff and customers hostage.
Since the exercise location was a built-up area, the CTU under the supervision of Lt Col Fiifi Deegbe deployed snipers to rescue the victims on the 18th floor. Various tactics were applied by the CTU to arrest the Jihadists.
The Commanding Officer (CO) of the 64 Inf Reg, Lt. Col Fiifi Deegbe, later explained to DAILY GUIDE that the unit developed this training module which is onsite. It entails, he said, troops identifying a target and training on it.
“We identified this building to test the drills and skills of ours and we have the scenarios of terrorist taking persons who had come to the bank for banking activities. Basically, we tested our various response mechanisms,” he added.
Lt Col. Deegbe continued that within the challenges or constraints and resources available to them and personnel delivered, this would be exactly what they would use to respond when the need arose. Other supporting units were the153 Armoured Regiment and the Military Police.
The exercise was also observed by the British High Commission’s Defence Attaché together with the Commanding Officers of the Fifth Battalion of Infantry and 153 Armoured Regiment – Lt Col Seth Odei and Lt Col William Ackah and other officers of the regiment.
The Accra Mall and the National Theatre were scenes of previous exercises by the unit.
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey