By IANS
Aizawl : About 60 US soldiers have begun a rigorous training in low-intensity guerrilla warfare from Indian anti-terror experts in the forests of the northeastern state of Mizoram.
Indian army officers are also attending the exercise at the Counter Insurgency Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) in Vairengte. The exercise that started Tuesday ends Sep 16.
“The drill would mainly deal with how to tackle an unconventional war or low intensity conflict,” said Brig. Rakesh Mohan Painuly, commandant of the CIJWS.
“Combating insurgents or engaging in an operation is one thing which almost every soldier around the globe is given training on, but we train our boys how to tackle these insurgents in a civilian area without any collateral damage,” the commandant said.
“The best way to win a war against insurgency is to win the hearts of the people.”
About 150 American soldiers have already undergone training at Vairengte with the last batch of nine Alaska Army National Guard’s Long Range Surveillance Detachment soldiers completing a six-week course in 2004.
Troops undergoing training were being fed venomous vipers, dogs and monkeys as part of military exercises to sharpen skills in jungle combat.
“The troops are taught to live in difficult and hostile terrain, eat and sleep like the guerrilla and strike as silently as the guerrilla,” a CIJWS official said.
“The motto of the school is to fight a guerrilla like a guerrilla.”
The School presently runs four counter-insurgency and jungle warfare courses open only to officers and soldiers below 28. The CIJWS has trained more than 300,000 defence personnel since its inception in 1970.