India announces security overhaul

India will train more commandos to prevent terror attacks

The Indian government has announced a number of steps to strengthen internal security after the Mumbai attacks.

Interior Minister P Chidambaram told parliament that a national investigative agency would be set up and coastal security would be boosted.

He said more commandos would be trained and anti-terror laws beefed up.

It is the government's first detailed response to the public outcry over the attacks which, according to the minister, left 164 dead.

The minister said detailed evidence gathered from the bodies of the nine dead gunmen and boats that they had used to travel to Mumbai indicated that they were Pakistani nationals belonging to the militant group the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

He identified the lone surviving gunmen, now in police custody, as Mohammed Ajmal Amir.

On Thursday, a judge remanded the suspect until 24 December.

Pakistan denies any involvement in the attacks, but has promised to co-operate with the Indian investigation.

It has been under tremendous Indian and American pressure to act on allegations that the Mumbai atrocities were linked to Pakistan.

On Sunday, Pakistani security forces raided the main Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Challenge of terrorism

"We cannot go back to business as usual. We have to take hard decisions and prepare country and people to face the challenge of terrorism," Mr Chidambaram, the newly appointed Indian interior minister, told parliament.

He said a number of steps would be taken to bolster internal security.

• a national investigation agency would be set up.

• vacancies in the country's intelligence agencies would be filled and they would be equipped them with advanced equipment.

• a coastal command would be set up to secure India's 7,500km-long coastline.

• a total of 20 "counter-insurgency, anti-terrorism" schools would be set up in various parts of India to train to train police and security personnel.

• commando forces to be set up in the states.

• laws relating to terrorist acts would be beefed up.

• money laundering laws to be strengthened.

"South Asia is in the eye of a storm of terror. Several terror organisations operating beyond our borders are a source of terror," Mr Chidambaram said.