Simulated chaos at Changi airport

SINGAPORE: Explosions, shootings and bomb-detecting robots took centre stage early today at Changi Airport's Terminal 3 as Singapore staged a large-scale multi-agency counter-terrorism exercise, according to police reports.
The drill, named Exercise Northstar, was part of ongoing efforts to "test and validate whole-of-government operational plans to respond to possible terror attacks in Singapore," police said in a Facebook post.
The two-hour-long exercise featured a series of possible terror scenarios, including a suicide bomber with a detonating vest, a knife-wielding attacker and gunmen on a shooting rampage.
It was the 10th edition of the drill and the first time it was held at Changi Airport, in response to a pattern of recent terrorist attacks targeting critical transport hubs.
In June 2016, a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport killed 41 and injured more than 230.
Similarly, a series of coordinated bomb attacks that ripped through Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station in March 2016 claimed 32 lives and hurt hundreds.
Changi is one of the world's busiest airports, with 58.7 million passengers passing through its gates in 2016, according to Changi Airport Group.
"Changi Airport is a high-profile target – (it is) completely plausible that something like this could happen," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in interviews with local media after witnessing Tuesday's exercise.
The exercise was led by local police and involved a total of 650 personnel from various civil defence forces, armed forces, airport authorities, government agencies and medical teams. – dpa