Our Correspondent

KANGRA, March 1

The Indo-Oman joint Army exercise Al Nagah-II 2017 will be conducted from March 6 to 19 in the Dhauladhar ranges at Bakloh in Chamba district.This is the second joint military exercise. The first one was held in Oman in January 2015.Disclosing this today, Lt Col Manish Mehta, a Defence spokesperson, said the troops had been drawn from one Infantry battalion each from the Indian Army and the Royal Army of Oman. Approximately 60 troops from both countries would participate in the exercise, he added.Lt Col Mehta said the aim of the exercise was to build and promote bilateral military relations and enhance inter-operability while exchanging skills and experiences between the Army and the Royal Army of Oman. He said an added aim of the exercise was to qualitatively enhance the knowledge of each other’s military procedures, thus increasing the scope for inter-operability and better responsiveness to a common threat.He said the Indian troops had undergone extensive training on rock craft, slithering, counter-terrorism or low-intensity conflict operations in addition to tactical drills of close cordon and house intervention drills to fulfil the mandate of the joint exercise.He said the 14-day exercise with the Royal Army of Oman was scheduled to be conducted in multiple modules in order to achieve complete integration between the two contingents at every stage. The vast experience and expertise gained by the Indian troops in counter insurgency operations held special importance to the Oman Army. The joint exercise would, therefore, set the stage for greater defence cooperation between the two nations, he disclosed.