british police admit shooting innocent, page-2

Unfortunately I think that many who participated on that thread will feel no remorse regarding their statements as the victim of this shooting was not a white anglo saxon and racism is at the heart of their message.

Police shot wrong man in bomb hunt
07:40 AEST Sun Jul 24 2005
AAP
Police have admitted they had shot dead the wrong man as they hunted for four men wanted for failed bomb attacks on London's transport system.

Plainclothes police chased the man into an underground train station on Friday after he ignored warnings to stop.

As the man boarded a train, police shot him five times at point-blank range fearing he was about to set off a bomb.

"We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday 21st July 2005," police said.

"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."

Thursday's attacks killed no one, but spread alarm and fear, coming just two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 people in similar bombings on London's transport network.

The killing had already been condemned by Muslim groups, who expressed shock at the news of the victim's innocence.

"To give license to people to shoot to kill just like that, on the basis of suspicion, is very frightening," Azzam Tamimi of the Muslim Association of Britain told BBC television.

"It is human lives that are being targeted here, whether by terrorists or in this case unfortunately by people who are supposed to be chasing or catching the terrorists."

Former London police commander John O'Connor told the BBC: "It is a shocking incident, and I think the consequences may be graver if he turns out to be a young Muslim."

The killing in front of shocked passengers on a packed underground train triggered speculation that traditionally unarmed British police had adopted a shoot-to-kill policy.

Police were questioning two men were held after raids late on Friday in the Stockwell area of south London close to the site of one of Thursday's failed bombs on three underground trains and a bus - the same targets as the July 7 bombs.

Police released closed circuit television pictures of the four suspects and appealed for the public to help find them, but warned that they were dangerous and not to be approached.

Less than 24-hours after the pictures were released police said they had received nearly 500 calls from the public.

The killing of the man took Britain's fight against terrorism to a new level of force in a country where only specialist officers carry weapons and killings by police are very rare.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said the duty of the police was to protect the public against people considered to be terrorist suspects, and police said they had followed the man they shot from a house under surveillance and who had run when challenged.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was investigating the killing, as it did all fatal police shootings.

Analysts said police were operating under secret new guidelines, codenamed Operation Kratos, allowing them to aim for the head if they believe there was a threat to the public.

"Simple nervous system shut-down, that is the objective," said anti-terrorism expert Robert Ayers of the Royal Institute of International Affairs think-tank told Reuters.

The July 7 attacks killed 52 people and injured 700 in the worst peacetime attacks in the city's history.

But on Thursday the devices failed to go off properly and no one was killed.

Because of that, police have more clues, including the unexploded bombs, eye witness reports and CCTV footage.

But security experts and the former head of London's police warned that the attacks could continue.