KUWAIT CITY, Dec 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) began a joint military training named Jazeera Hawk-1 in Qatar on Sunday, the Qatar News Agency reported.

   The four-day exercise is aimed at practicing command missions, joint control, planning and executing joint air assignments, commander of the training Colonel Yousif Ateeq of the Qatari airforce was quoted as saying.

   The training is also aimed at getting the participating forces acquainted with defensive procedures adopted in GCC member states, namely, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the commander said.

   He said the exercise also involved troops from GCC military branches, including the internal security and naval forces, to train on fighting sabotage and terrorist acts, given the significance of the issue of terrorism worldwide.

   He said fighting terrorism occupied 50 percent of the exercise's volume, noting that the scenario focuses on repelling a foreign attack and securing the border against an external offensive.

   It also deals with tackling a dangerous internal case by terrorists.

   Gulf countries, some of them staunch US allies in the region, are battling a wave of militant attacks, most of them staged by al-Qaida terror network loyalists.

   The military training also coincided with a day-two annual summit of the GCC, currently underway in Abu Dhabi, the UAE's capital, on regional cooperation. Enditem