(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-08-09 16:35

China, Russia and four central Asian nations began a joint anti-terror military drill in a remote region in Northwest China's Xinjiang on Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Chinese marines storm a beachhead in a joint military drill with Russia in 2005.  [Agencies/file photo]

The exercise involves a total of 6,000 troops and 36 aircraft from the six nations.

Dubbed "Peace Mission 2007," the drill among the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is being held in Xinjiang for two days, then continue in Chelyabinsk, Russia from August 11-17, Xinhua said.

Chiefs of staff from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan held strategic negotiations in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, at the start of the drill, Xinhua said.

The military exercises "will enhance the exchange among SCO member countries and improve their counter-terror capabilities," it said earlier.

The SCO grew out of a regional effort in the mid-1990s to reduce military forces among common borders. It later came to involve anti-terrorism efforts and cooperation in the economic and energy fields.