Some 160 US military police gunned down pop-up targets, raided mock houses and cleared buildings of hostile forces in an unspecified model city, said US Forces Korea (USFK) officials.

US military newspaper Stars and Stripes said Tuesday the latest drill was to train for any possible conflict with North Korea's 122,000-man special operations force, the largest in the world of its kind.

It included house-to-house combat against a fictitious North Korean platoon leader dubbed "Kim Murderman," according to the US military daily.

The day-long drill, which took place this week, was part of the US troops' "regular" 10-day anti-guerrilla training, a USFK official told AFP without elaborating.

Some 37,000 US troops have been stationed in South Korea to frustrate the potential threat from North Korea, which has had a 1.1 million-member army since the 1950-1953 Korean War. South Korea keeps 690,000 troops.

WAR.WIRE