"It's a dangerous world out there. Terrorism isn't just in the Middle East any more and if these guys are assisting us out there, they need to know how to do this stuff as it will save lives," US Navy Lieutenant Justin Hadley told AFP as more than 100 camouflaged soldiers stormed the building behind him.

Hadley said the urban warfare training was an important component of this year's Cobra Gold exercises, involving almost 20,000 military personnel from the United States, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and Mongolia.

The US Marine Corps is teaching soldiers how to wage battle in the midst of cities and towns, which Marine Captain Landon Hutchens said were fast replacing the forests and jungles that Asian armies have traditionally been trained to operate in.

"The world is becoming rapidly more urbanised and as more areas are built up and developed the battlefield is increasingly becoming the urban jungle," he said.

Hutchens said the skills being taught in Cobra Gold could be utilised in operations anywhere in the world.

"There have been quite a few situations where our friends and allies have had to storm a building to confront terrorists and take out terrorist cells, and it is also essential in peacekeeping," he said.

Leading about 40 marines and 100 Thai soldiers through their paces at a military base in central Thailand, Marine Lieutenant Patrick McKinley said the training was critical if the US and Asian nations were to work together in future United Nations-led coalitions.

"It's very important so that in world UN operations we don't kill them and they don't kill us," McKinley said. "If they knows how it works and we go into combat together, then it will be much easier."

Having just learned the basics of fighting in corridors, kicking down doors and storming rooms which could house a potential enemy, Thai Captain Niwat Dangthaisong said the training could be used at home and abroad.

"We are just preparing in case it happens. Maybe we might have to go abroad to help other countries and there are events such as in the south so we prepare for the future," said Niwat.

Violence has flared in Thailand's southern provinces since a January raid on an army base which left four soldiers dead and heralded almost daily attacks targeting security forces and government officials

"It's training for a real situation... at the moment we have nothing like this but we must train for situations like terrorist attacks," Niwat said.

US ambassador Darryl Johnson said at the launch of the exercise Thursday that the war in Iraq gave the exercises greater importance, as four of the five nations involved -- Thailand, the Philippines, Mongolia and the United States -- have contingents stationed there.

The Philippines and Mongolia are participating for the first time in the massive joint air, land and sea manoeuvres scheduled to run until May 27.

The live-fire exercises, launched 23 years ago and originally limited to US and Thai troops, will include an anti-terror component for the third straight year.

The participating nations have said that most of the exercises were aimed at preparing troops for future United Nations missions.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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