'Shoot bomb suspects in head'
2005-07-24 13:12
London - British police remain under orders to shoot suspected suicide bombers in the head if necessary, London's police chief Ian Blair said on Sunday, despite having mistakenly killed an innocent man.
When asked by Sky Television if the police had shoot-to-kill instructions in such cases, Blair replied: "They have to be that. Because there's no point in shooting at somebody's chest because that's where the bomb is likely to be."
He added: "There's no point in shooting anywhere else because if they fall down they detonate it. It is drawn on the experience from other countries including Sri Lanka."
"The only way to deal with this is to shoot to the head," the Metropolitan Police commissioner said.
Blair expressed "deep regrets" over Friday's incident when police mistakenly shot a Brazilian electrician during a chase onto a subway train in south London, a day after a new wave of attempted bombings.