About 1,000 servicemen from Tajikistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and China participated in the maneuvers staged at Fahrabad, 50 kms south of Dushanbe, practicing the release of hostages captured by Afghan terrorists, the Interfax news agency reported.

"The SCO anti-terrorist units showed us a high level of professionalism today," said Hairiddin Abdurahimov, head of the Tajik State Security Committee at the closing ceremony.

The SCO held its first conference on Afghanistan in Moscow on 28 March. All participants agreed to strengthen cooperation such as on frontier defense and joint operations against terrorism, in order to solve problems facing the war-ravaged Afghanistan.