India and Sri Lanka today launched a mega military exercise aimed at countering terrorism at the Combat Training School in the island nation.
The twelve-day eighth edition of the ‘Mitra Shakti’ exercise began with the participation of an all arms contingent of 120 Army personnel from India.
“The aim of the exercise is to promote close relations between armies of both countries and enhance inter-operability and sharing best practices in counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations,” the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
The exercise will involve tactical level operations at the sub-unit level in an international Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism environment and will go a long way in further strengthening the relationship between both the South Asian Nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing synergy and cooperation at grass root level between both armies.
The annual exercise, which has helped strengthen bilateral military cooperation, understanding and bonds of neighbourly relations between both services, takes place alternately either in India or Sri Lanka every year.
The 7th Edition of the exercise was held at the Foreign Training Node (FTN), Pune in 2019.