Assam
Police modernises with Uzis, MP5s
Wednesday December 08, 2010 07:00:18 PM,
Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
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Guwahati:
Vintage World War I era firearms like the .303 rifles have become a
thing of the past with police commandos in insurgency-hit Assam now
equipped with sophisticated weapons like the Israeli Uzi and the
German MP5 submachine guns to match the new face of urban terror.
"We have almost been able to phase out .303 rifles and replaced them
with several sophisticated close-quarter and long-range weapons like
Uzis to equip our forces so that combating terror becomes more
effective," Assam police chief Shankar Baruah said.
For long, the .303 rifles, accurate and good in the field, were used
by the Assam Police, but with militants resorting to urban
terrorism, realization dawned that the weapon was not good enough to
be used while fighting rebels in cities.
"We need to buy more assault and combat rifles like the Uzi as
fighting terrorism in the jungles and villages is different from
populated cities where one would have to avoid collateral damage."
The Israeli Uzi comes in various sizes from submachine guns to
pistols and all the variants very accurate and easy to handle with
optimum results.
The Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine gun is a lightweight,
air-cooled, magazine-fed, delayed blowback operated, select-fire
weapon that can be shoulder or hand fired and is invariably very
accurate with sustained fire modes.
"The Uzi and the MP5 are weapons now used by elite anti-terror
forces in most parts of the world as the volume of fire is greater
and is very accurate and hence the in thing for security forces in
tackling urban terror," another senior police official said.
The wave of terror bombings in Assam in October 2008 had exposed how
poorly equipped the state police force was - with World War I era
firearms, defective bulletproof vests and insufficient numbers - to
deal with heavily armed terrorists, say experts.
"We are also trying to get some aerial weapons to equip our forces
for maximum results," the police chief said.
In most Indian states, the police forces continue to fight with .303
rifles similar to the Lee Enfield weapons used by the British troops
during World War I.
"There is need for specialization of the police force by imparting
training and equipping them with more advanced weapons. Already the
process is on," Baruah said.
Even today, police in Assam wear plastic helmets and body protectors
designed to ward off sticks and stones, rather than bullets as they
fight terrorists armed with AK-47 rifles, pistols, grenades and RDX.
"The entire strategy and training module of the police force needs
to be reformed, especially in view of the growing urban terror
attacks seen in Assam and other places," former Assam police chief
Nishinath Changkakoty said.
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