Exercise Northstar VII: Carnage at Sentosa ...

Three armed gunmen land on Sentosa under the cloak of darkness and go on a shooting rampage, killing 10 revellers at beachfront bar Cafe del Mar and wounding 20 - even as simultaneous attacks in several downtown spots are reported.

Droves of "injured" people, some carried out on stretchers by Singapore Civil Defence Force emergency crew, stream out of the incident site, just as reporters arrive on the scene.

This was the first test scenario played out yesterday in this year's Northstar VII exercise. Adding to the chaos was the media - role-playing for the first time how a terror attack would be covered by the press - which breached police cordon lines.

A "casualty" slumped on the bar's ground told Today that minutes earlier, three men who appeared out of nowhere suddenly started firing indiscriminately at patrons. A police officer hustled this reporter away before descriptions of the men could be determined.

Meanwhile, Criminal Investigation Department officers scoured the scene of the carnage for clues that might lead to the identity of the perpetrators. Later, a police spokesperson told the media their identities were still unclear, but an islandwide manhunt had been launched.

Sentosa Leisure Group's deputy director for communications Suzanne Ho told reporters the group was working closely with the police, and that efforts to alert hotel guests about the terrorist attack had begun.

The plot for this year's exercise, to be held over several days, simulates a band of 15 terrorists who hijack a marine vessel. They split up into six "assault teams" and infiltrate Singapore's shores at different landing sites before launching concurrent large-scale attacks.

Three other test scenarios - portraying hits at Raffles Place MRT station, shopping mall VivoCity, and Rasa Sentosa Resort Hotel - will be carried out today and on July 15.

Premised on the Mumbai attacks last November, where 10 gunmen entered the city on a rubber dinghy and went on a 60-hour rampage killing 166, Northstar VII aims to "stress-test" how our agencies would coordinate and respond. The exercise is led by the Singapore Police Force and involves 15 agencies. TEO XUANWEI

Look out for a report on the "incident" at Raffles Place MRT station in our afternoon edition.