Commandos Display Their 'Hostage Rescue' Skills in ‘Cormorant Strike’

Forty-eight Commandos of the Army, grouped into six teams rehearsed their professional skills in ‘Anti Hijacking & Hostage Release’ at Mattala Mahinda Rajapaksa airport, Hambantota this afternoon (19) during a mock Exercise, staged in the presence of Major General Aruna Jayasekera, Exercise Director and a few Senior Officers.

This hostage rescue demonstration, a minor segment of the just concluded ‘Exercise - Cormorant Strike’, was launched under the 'building option', in which the Commandos of the Army, attached to the ‘Anti Hijacking & Hostage Release Team’ (AHHRT) displayed how hostages, trapped in a building, could be rescued safely, using vehicle manoeuvering method and heli-rappelling techniques respectively.

The mock Exercise further exemplified how those terrorist leaders who have taken air passengers hostage were captured alive and taken into custody of the Security Forces after releasing the hostages unhurt.

The 69-member team of foreign participants and observers in the ‘Cormorant Strike’, just concluded in Trincomalee with its ‘Critical Engagement’ witnessed rescue skills of the Commandos in Tuesday’s mock hostage operation.

Major General Aruna Jayasekara, Director Exercise - ‘Cormorant Strike - 2017’, Major General Dananjith Karunarathne, Commander, Army Training Command (ARTRAC), Deputy Director, Exercise and other Deputy/Additional Directors of the Exercise, Divisional Commanders and all Brigade Commanders watched this afternoon’s segment at Hambantota airport.