TEHRAN, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- A large-scale joint anti-terror exercise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) kicked off in Iran's northwestern East Azarbaijan Province on Monday.
Hosted by the Ground Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the drill, named "Sahand-2025," will run for five days, said a statement by the IRGC.
The exercise has been designed under a directive from the General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces and the IRGC, with cooperation from the Iranian foreign ministry and the Executive Committee of the SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, said Shahram Askarian, the IRGC ground force's public relations deputy.
Iran has always been a center of fighting terrorist groups, while more than 17,000 Iranians, including children and women, have been killed by terrorists over the past years, he said.
Sahand-2025 is the second joint counter-terrorism drill conducted by the SCO member states. The first, coded "Interaction-2024," was held in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in July last year.
The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and international security organization grouping China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus. ■
