14oct03

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NATO kicks off military exercise in Poland.

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WARSAW, Oct. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A massive NATO military exercise involving 7,000 soldiers from 12 countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Spain, Italy and Denmark, started Monday in northwestern Poland.

The NATO military exercise, code-named "Gainful Sword 2003," is scheduled to finish by the end of this month.

What is notable is the size of the maneuvers and the emphasis this time. Participating forces will try to intervene in scenarios where military conflicts or ethnic clashes break out between two hypothetical countries.

Previous NATO military exercises held in Poland mainly focused on training troops' ability to act in anti-terror operations and carry out humanitarian rescue missions.

[Source: Xinhua, China, 14Oct03]

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