Army prepared in Balearics

Special nuclear and chemical warfare troops were in action in Majorca yesterday taking part in a NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) training exercise. The exercise had been organised to demonstrate to the media that the Spanish armed forces, some of which have been put on standby to provide support to the United States in Afghanistan if and when required, are highly prepared to respond to any military or civilian situation involving a nuclear, biological or chemical attack. Dressed if full NBC suits and equipped with special gas masks, with interchangeable filters, gloves and boot covers, the special unit went through the motions of having to respond to a chemical warfare attack. All of the very latest information on chemical warfare which has been gathered by NATO forces and government agencies over the past few months has been used to update the NBC procedures. The training exercise involved a suspect package which had to be secured, collected and disposed of. In accordance with NBC procedure, the package is placed inside two plastic bags, the air is removed and then placed in a special, highly protected case before being transported under armed guard to a laboratory for testing.