India's elite guards, marine commandos monitor security ahead of G20 event in Kashmir

Commandos of India's elite National Security Guard (NSG) on Thursday (18) carried out an area domination and security sanitisation exercise in Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, the summer capital of the northern Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, ahead of a G20 meet next week, officials said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel accompanied a posse of NSG personnel during the exercise, they added.

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The security personnel checked hotels at Lal Chowk, spoke to their owners and took some information from them, they said.

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Officials said similar exercises will be carried out in the run up to the main G20 event from May 22-24.

Meanwhile, the Marine Commandos or MARCOS carried out the sanitisation exercise in the famous Dal Lake near the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre in Srinagar – the venue of the G20 meet.

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The security personnel searched various houseboats and went around the water body in 'shikaras' -- a type of wooden boat found on Dal Lake and other water bodies of Srinagar.

The officials said the exercise was part of the security drill ahead of the G20 event.

India's holding G20 event in the UT has been criticised by Pakistan and countries such as China and Turkey are set to give it a miss. A number of other countries will also have a low participation at the meet.

(With PTI inputs)