Photo By Sgt. Hannah Hawkins | The Republika Srpska's Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (RS CAJ) enter a building to...... read more read more
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BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA -- Three major Bosnia and Herzegovina counter-terrorism units participated in a joint training exercise to promote interoperability throughout various geographic locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nov. 2-4, 2021.
Bosnia and Herzegovina State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) investigators and operators, Republika Srpska's Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (RS CAJ), and Federal Ministry of Interior Special Service Unit (FMUP SSU) trained in conjunction with U.S. Army Special Forces. The three counter-terror units collaborated in order to stop a mock terrorist cell and uphold national security.
"The whole intent of the culminating exercise (CULEX) was to give them a problem-set and encourage them to talk to each other to improve the systems they have in place for information sharing," said a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who helped run the exercise.
Training for the culmination exercise consisted of two separate week-long engagements with the partner forces: one focusing on a sniper reconnaissance course and the other focused on planning.
"At the beginning of our rotation we ran the same program of instruction with all the groups" the U.S. soldier said. "This established a baseline assessment for us and then we gave them some training on necessary skill sets for the CULEX."
During the exercise, SIPA and RS CAJ worked directly together on a staged hostage situation in Banja Luka, as well as a mock bomb-making laboratory in a remote mountain cabin. SIPA investigators in Banja Luka then shared information with the FMUP SSU, which led the Federation’s police force to Tuzla. There, the police detained a financier in the mock terrorist organization.
The information derived from the Tuzla capture was then relayed to SIPA, who successfully cleared a simulated dirty bomb at Tito's Bunker in Konjic and apprehended the mock terrorists during the training exercise.
The three different agencies working together demonstrated a unified effort to counter violent extremist organizations that operate within the entire country.
"It was a common problem-set for all three [engagement forces]," the U.S. soldier said. "We gave them a mock terrorist organization that was staged to operate within the whole country; they are all working together to build the network, understand the network and deal with the problems presented by the network, again, focusing on sharing information with each other along the way."
Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of three main ethnic groups: Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats, with each group electing a president to represent them during a four-year term. The three-member presidency is run by the Chairperson which rotates between the three leaders every eight months. The country is divided into two autonomous entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, each with its own counter-terrorism unit, FMUP SSU and RS CAJ respectively. SIPA’s jurisdiction covers all of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
With many divisions of authority in different areas, these types of culminating exercises demonstrate a unity of the three counter-terrorism units, SIPA, RS CAJ and FMUP SSU, that stretches across Bosnia and Herzegovina, promoting peace.
| Date Taken: | 11.04.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.27.2021 02:46 |
| Story ID: | 411915 |
| Location: | BA |
| Web Views: | 834 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Bosnia and Herzegovina counter-terrorism groups train together, promote interoperability, by SGT Hannah Hawkins, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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