Police and the Inter-departmental Counter Terrorism Unit co-organised a counter-terrorism exercise codenamed IRONWILL in the small hours today at the Hong Kong International Airport.

About 200 police officers participated in the exercise, along with the unit.

The exercise comprised two scenarios. The first scenario simulated the discovery of a suspicious object at the airport terminal, while the second one demonstrated an operation against a terrorist cell with members conducting knife attacks, taking hostages and threatening to detonate a bomb at the terminal.

The unit’s Acting Senior Police Superintendent Leung Wai-ki said the global terrorism landscape remained complex and ever-changing in recent years.

While some extreme terrorist groups still launched attacks worldwide, some fictitious foreign extremists also made use of controversial issues to conduct extreme violent acts, he added.

Through the exercise, the unit aimed to enhance the public’s vigilance against bombs and to boost their alertness for suspicious objects.

It also aimed to educate the public, particularly the security and property management sector, about ways to identify and properly handle suspicious objects.

The Run, Hide, Report safety advisory was also highlighted to remind citizens of the proper response in a terrorist attack.

Police said it will continue to step up counter-terrorism work and strengthen Hong Kong’s counter-terrorism deployment and capability to guard against the breeding of local terrorism.