Obsolete weapons failed policemen

kolkata: anybody who has passed along the jawaharlal nehru road in front of the american center will vouch that security outside one of the ''most-likely terrorist targets'' in kolkata was grossly inadequate. the dozen or so policemen occupying chairs on the pavement outside the building, till tuesday at least, were at best prepared to handle a demonstrating mob armed with stones and bamboo sticks.though senior police and government officials were quick to point out that the attackers chose a time when the shift was being changed nobody was ready to explain how anybody could have hoped to stop the automatic weapon-totting terrorists with lathis, bamboo shields and a few outdated .303 rifles. while top police officers were embarrassed at the failure of 32 constables, half of them armed with rifles, to return fire, the constables who were on duty blamed their obsolete weapons for the fiasco. one of them claimed that their rifles had ''not been cleaned'' for years and that the bolts had ''jammed'', making all attempts to retaliate futile. police officers on condition of anonymity accepted that the city police were neither physically not mentally prepared to counter any terrorist threat. ''there are no fortified security bunkers outside any of the buildings, protected by sandbags. a few years ago, some .9 mm pistols and carbines were procured by the city police but sadly, few of them reached the hands of on-duty policemen. the policemen also lack training to deal with such situations. ''only basic policing is taught at the police training school. in this case, they were too slow to react, even after the first shots were fired,'' the officer admitted. this was reflected in the fact that none of the constables could give the exact number of the assailants. conceding that they had been caught napping by the sudden attack, the policemen claimed that they had failed to retaliate because ''nobody was in command.'' there wasn't a single officer to lead them. (times news network) related stories