US, Kenya Practice Joint Quick Response Embassy Protection Exercise - State Department

The United States and Kenya have started their first combined Quick Response Force embassy protection exercise to be held over the next five days in Nairobi, the State Department said in a media note on Monday.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2018) The United States and Kenya have started their first combined Quick Response Force embassy protection exercise to be held over the next five days in Nairobi, the State Department said in a media note on Monday.

"Today, the US Department of State and the Government of Kenya launched the first SPEAR Quick Response Force (QRF) Summit Challenge, a tactical training and competition event in Nairobi for US-trained Special Program for Embassy Augmentation and Response (SPEAR) teams," the note said.

The training and competition is being held in Nairobi from December 10 to December 14, the State Department said.

"The SPEAR program provides training to specially selected law enforcement officers in participating host-nations to enable their affiliated units to respond within minutes to emergencies involving US diplomatic facilities or personnel," the note explained.

Participants from SPEAR teams from Mali, Tunisia, Niger and Kenya will be competing in the QRF Summit Challenge along with a crisis response unit from the Kenyan National Police Service and a team from the US Embassy's Regional Security Office, the State Department said.

The five days of training and competition will include firearms proficiency, tactical medicine, explosive incident identification and response, personnel recovery and evacuation, and physical fitness, the note added.