Silchar, Oct. 26: A team of Bangladesh army today joined a training programme at the Indian army's Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) at Vairengte in Mizoram.

The group of 120 personnel of Bangladesh army arrived at Vairengte last night to take part in the 20-day training programme which kicked off this morning.

An army officer associated with the institute, one of its kind in the world, told The Telegraph today that the training programme comprised a rigorous drill on how to tackle urban terrorism, low-intensity conflict and conduct anti-insurgency operations.

He said the Bangladesh government had earlier urged the Indian government to allow its army to take part in a training programme in CIJWS, 140km north of Aizawl.

The 120-member team led by Maj. Mullar Hussain consists of 40 officers, while the rests are of the ranks of lance naik and soldier.

"We have been imparting training to both Indian and foreign soldiers to deal with terrorism for more than a decade now. Over the years, the institute has acquired a reputation in this field and now everyone is interested in training here," said the army officer.

Till today, over 20 nations like the US, Nigeria, France, Indonesia, Australia, Mongolia, Cambodia, Myanmar, among others, had sent their soldiers to the institute to learn the tactics to fight guerrillas.

"The troops will be taught to live in difficult and hostile terrain. They will be left in a jungle to survive without food. The training programme is completely non-conventional and once a soldier passes the training programme of this institute, he can face all sorts of challenges and deadly situations," said the officer.

"The soldiers will be given training on how to identify improvised explosive devices (IEDs), jungle survival, counter-terrorism, interrogation techniques, jungle-reflexive shooting, a fast rope-descending technique, among others in the 20-day stint."?

The doors of the institute, established in 1970, were thrown open to the soldiers from abroad in 2001.