The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Terrorists catch police off-guard Law and order

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Saturday, Nov 29, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Terrorists catch police off-guard Law and order

Names of terror organisations have changed, but the way they choose targets has not, writes Marri Ramu

Strike an unlikely target in an unexpected manner. That had been the pattern of terror attacks witnessed so far in Hyderabad and across the country.

Names of terror organisations have changed over the years, but the way they choose targets and execute the plot has not -- catching the police off-guard and claiming scores of innocent lives. Three persons were killed and several injured when a series of tiffin box bomb explosions were triggered by a little-known terrorist outfit in 1993 in city.

Apparently, large-scale loss of human lives and property damage was not the goal of the terrorists then. Seven years later, another organisation triggered explosions inside places of worship. Even then, killing people was not their goal. But the suicide bomber attack on Commissioner’s Task Force office at Greenlands in 2007 clearly sent the alarm bells ringing.

It was obvious that terrorists wanted to kill the policemen of Task Force wing and the suicide bomber attack was the first of its kind in the State then. The blast in Mecca Masjid in May 2007 and the twin explosions in August in the same year at a public park and a noted eatery further made it clear that terrorists were selecting a place not considered a possible target by police.

Attacks across the country also proved it. From bus and railway stations to places of worship to moving trains to court complexes to crowded markets to hospitals to star hotels, the terrorists are always changing their targets and mode of attack, leaving the police helpless.

But did the powers that be note this pattern? The low level of security arrangements at public and private places witnessing huge congregations and knee-jerk reactions of police to such incidents indicate things are not moving in the right direction. Few anticipated that armed militants would come through sea route and take the financial capital of the country into their control killing over 150 persons.

Senior police officers feel security sanitisation of every public place is a must even if it meant sacrificing some comforts and frustrating frisking of individuals. “We might have specially trained force, but the terrorists will keep a single bomb in a hospital and walk away if access to strangers is not controlled,” says a security expert.

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