Police "should apologise" over Forest Gate raid

LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) Police should apologise to two families subjected to a ''terrifying ordeal'' in their homes by anti-terrorist officers searching for a bomb, the force's watchdog said today.

One man was shot when a policeman's gun went off by accident during the dawn raid in Forest Gate, east London, last June.

The intelligence that led to the raid was wrong and no bomb was found.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said police were right to act on the information, but should have planned for the possibility it was wrong.

''Intelligence is not evidence,'' said IPCC Commissioner Deborah Glass. ''The police need to plan for the failure of intelligence.

''Where as a result of a high profile operation innocent people are injured or publicly branded as terrorists, the police should make an equally high profile public apology.'' The police should publicly explain the way they assess intelligence in such high-profile cases, she added.

Mohammed Abdul Kahar, who was shot in the shoulder, and his brother, Abul Koyair Kalam, were arrested and later released without charge.

The shooting caused anger in the Muslim community and criticism of a police force already under pressure for killing a Brazilian electrician after mistaking him for a suicide bomber.

Police and the government came under more pressure after anti-terrorism raids in Birmingham last month. One of the nine men arrested said last week that Britain had become a ''police state for Muslims''.

Scotland Yard said in a statement: ''The IPCC found that faced with the intelligence the police had, the operation was necessary and proportionate.

''The Metropolitan Police Service has apologised on a number of occasions to the local community for the inconvenience and disruption caused by the policing operation and expressed our regret about injuries incurred.

''We are happy to repeat these apologies.'' More than 250 officers were involved in the Forest Gate raid, including 15 wearing chemical, biological and radiological protection suits who stormed the house.

REUTERS DKA KN1903