Bomb-hit India plans special anti-terrorism centre

Police examine damaged vehicles at the site of one of the bomb blasts in New Delhi September 13, 2008. India, reeling under a spate of bombings by Islamist militants, is building a new counter- terrorism centre, as part of a revamp of its policing and intelligence apparatus to prevent future attacks.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India, reeling under a spate of bombings by Islamist militants, is building a new counter- terrorism centre, as part of a revamp of its policing and intelligence apparatus to prevent future attacks.

The move comes after criticism that the government was not doing enough to prevent attacks, and its security agencies were ill-equipped to tackle the increasingly technology-savvy militant groups.

"We will put in place a dedicated mechanism for research and analysis in areas of technology and counter-terrorism," Madhukar Gupta, India's top-most home ministry official said on Thursday.

The centre will research preventive mechanisms, intelligence, vigilance and surveillance and will be the single reference point for counter-terrorism strategies.

India's security agencies have long been criticised for lacking a cohesive counter-terrorism plan and poor intelligence gathering and analysis.

Bombing investigations too have followed a predictable drill: Bombs go off, police round up suspects, usually Muslims, and then the trail goes cold.

Bombs and other attacks have hit India with such regularity that, according to the National Counter-terrorism Centre in Washington, 3,674 people have been killed between January 2004 and March 2007, a death toll second only to that in Iraq.

There have been coordinated bomb attacks in four Indian cities in as many months this year, killing more than 150 people.

Critics say Indian intelligence has been so ineffective that it has failed to even unravel a series of emails sent by a group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen (IM) to television stations before or shortly after most attacks this year.

The emails have ridiculed intelligence officials and dared them to stop the attacks.

India's police are massively understaffed and under-resourced. There is no central database of militant suspects and little time for meticulous investigations.

Gupta said policing at the state level was also being overhauled with separate units focused on intelligence gathering and analysis. Greater surveillance through close-circuit TV cameras and beat constables were also being put in place.