PH, US Army troops conclude joint ‘Salaknib’ exercise

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Army concluded its annual “Salaknib” (Shield in the Ilocano dialect) exercise over the weekend with its US counterparts in Nueva Ecija.

Col. Ramon Zagala, spokesperson for the Army, said 494 participants took part in the three-week bilateral exercises made up of 429 local Army troopers and 65 personnel of the US Army Pacific Command.

The exercises were concluded on Saturday at Fort Ramon Magsaysay in Palayan City. Zagala said that Salaknib consisted of 15 training events, including urban operations; intelligence; combat engineers operations; indirect fires; live fire exercise; medical planning; counter-improvised explosive device; military police operations; K-9 operations; and sustainment of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense development.

—JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE

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