An international organization representing the heads of police departments across the world has issued new guidelines recommending that officers who confront a suicide bomber should shoot the suspect in the head, the Washington Post reported.

The recommendations by the International Association of Chiefs of Police take a more aggressive posture than typical lethal-force guidelines for police departments, the newspaper reported on its website late on Wednesday. It said the guidelines were published on July 8 before the London police, acting on a similar policy, on July 22 fatally shot a Brazilian electrician in the head because they mistook him for a suicide bomber.

In the United States, the National Bomb Squad Commanders Advisory Board is developing the first national guidelines for responding to suicide bombers, the newspaper said.

"There is not a responsible chief or head of a law enforcement agency in this country who isn't now pondering the dilemma a suicide bomber presents to their officers," US Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer told the Post.

Gainer's force is responsible for protecting members of Congress, their staff members and visitors to the US Capitol.

Last year, Gainer became the first US police chief to adopt a shoot-to-kill policy if his officers confront a suspected suicide bomber who is unco-operative, and other US law enforcement agencies are considering adopting a similar policy, the newspaper said.

"I can guarantee you that if we have, God forbid, a suicide bomber in a big city in the United States, 'shoot to kill' will be the inevitable policy," the Post quoted Miami Police Chief John F. Timoney as saying. "It's not a policy we choose lightly, but it's the only policy."

Police in Israel and Britain, which have a long history of dealing with terrorist attacks, have adopted a national policy of shooting a suspected suicide bomber in the head to prevent detonation of a bomb.

The Post said the guidelines recommend that if an officer needs to use lethal force to stop someone who fits a certain behavioural profile, the officer should "aim for the head" to kill the person instantly and prevent the setting off of a bomb.

The association's behavioural profile says a suicide bombing suspect might exhibit "multiple anomalies," including wearing a heavy coat or jacket in warm weather or carrying a briefcase, duffle bag or backpack with protrusions or visible wires, the newspaper said.

(China Daily August 5, 2005)