Police gunmen 'used Middle East tactics'
Police at London's Stockwell Tube Station appear to have used very similar tactics to those deployed against suicide bombers in the Middle East, a terrorism expert said today.
Professor Paul Rogers of Bradford University said today’s actions by Metropolitan Police armed officers appeared to have parallels with the “very strong” methods used by Israeli security forces and US troops in Iraq.
He said: “The kind of tactics the Met appear to have used this morning are very similar to the very tough tactics that the Israelis use against suspected suicide bombers.”
In the Middle East, security forces tend not to shoot suspects in the chest or abdomen because of the risk of detonating explosives strapped to waistcoats habitually worn by bombers.
“To be blunt, they go for a head shot,” he said.
“If they think somebody is a potential suicide bomber about to detonate, they try to kill them immediately.
“The Israelis are prone to taking very strong actions in these circumstances.
“One of the problems for the Israelis is that in such circumstances innocent people get caught up in that.”
He added: “The Israelis’ tendency to shoot first is very much the pattern that the Americans use in Iraq.
“The American forces have a strong tendency to open fire at an early stage and, again, the consequence is innocent people being killed.
“It is a very difficult situation to handle.”
A witness to the Stockwell incident, Mark Whitby, told BBC News 24 that a policeman fired five shots into an Asian man who was wearing “quite a thickish coat”.
Scotland Yard confirmed the shot man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Prof. Rogers stressed that the circumstances of today’s police shooting at Stockwell were still sketchy and that exact parallels were difficult to draw.
He went on: “When suicide bombings really started in Israel three or four years ago, it was a massive shock to the Israeli security system.
“It showed a vulnerability they did not think they had.
“Their approach has been construction of the wall which they claim has prevented the entry of a number of suicide bombers, who tend to come from the occupied territories rather than from within.”
