After being alerted by the sound of gunshots, shocked residents of Taiyuan watched as armed security officers, firefighters and paramedics rushed to close off the city's police academy last Thursday night.

Shortly after, authorities at the scene told media reporters the building had been "occupied by terrorists" just before midnight, adding that dozens of hostages had been taken.

Thankfully the city, capital of Shanxi province, was only staging the nation's second anti-terrorism drill as part of security preparations for the forthcoming 60th anniversary celebrations on Oct 1.

The program, which is codenamed "Great Wall No 6", began with an exercise in Inner Mongolia on June 9 and involves simulated attacks or threats from low-grade nuclear weapons and toxic chemicals, as well as hijackings and street shoot-outs.

The third drill will be staged in the city of Zhuozhou, Hebei province, this month.

Experts said the scale of the operation shows that the security level for the Oct 1 celebrations will be even higher than during the Beijing Olympics last summer.

This latest exercise was "aimed at testing the ability of security forces, support agencies and the local population in dealing with an emergency", said the Ministry of Public Security.

The drill ended on Friday afternoon, when security forces "captured and neutralized the terrorists and rescued the hostages", said the ministry.

"The police have long been preparing for this drill," said a man surnamed Wang, 45, who owns a restaurant opposite the police academy. "We ordinary citizens extremely support such exercises, especially as we are aware of the danger of terrorism.

"Though the drill brought some trouble for the city, it will give Taiyuan a precious opportunity to improve its ability to deal with such emergencies."

(China Daily June 15, 2009)