Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday the largest ever counter-terrorism exercise in Australia will kick off Monday with the main aim of testing security preparedness for the Commonwealth Games next March.

The four-day Mercury 05 exercise will involve 4,000 participants from state and federal agencies, and there will be 70 observers from 24 countries.

Responses to terrorism attacks on urban transit systems, large vehicle bombings, mass casualty events and other threats will also be tested.

"There will be a special focus on Victoria in this exercise and there will be events in both Melbourne and Bendigo as if they were happening during the Commonwealth Games," Howard was quoted by the Australian Associated Press as saying in Sydney, Australia's largest city.

The 18th Commonwealth Games will be held in Melbourne, capital city of the state of Victoria, from March 15 to 26 and will involve some 4,500 athletes.

"So for the people of Victoria and the people of Melbourne and Bendigo it will have a particular resonance, which is designed plainly to test the capacity to respond to a terrorist incident during the Commonwealth Games," he said.

Howard said the exercise will demonstrate the preparedness and cooperation among federal and state agencies in the face of a terrorist attack in Australia.

Australia has become the only one in the core countries in the US-led coalition in Iraq which has never suffered a major terrorist attack on its home soil after the London bombings last July.

Source: Xinhua