By Nick Alexander
The British police have apologised for shooting an innocent man during an anti-terrorism raid in London earlier this month.
During the police raid on a house in East London involving hundreds of police, 23-year-old Mohammed Abdul Kahar was shot in the shoulder.
"I just see an orange spark and a big bang. I was just saying I done nothing. At that time I thought I was going to die," he said.
Mr Kahar and his younger brother were then detained for eight days before being released without charge. Police acted on intelligence that indicated they would find a chemical bomb, but after an eight-day search of the house, no such device was discovered.
Police say they apologise for the hurt their actions may have caused and yesterday launched a double enquiry into the shooting to ascertain a) why a Shoot To Kill order was placed on an innocent man, and b) why the police marksman was so poor that the victim lived to tell the tale.
“It’s quite unacceptable to have innocent men who have been shot wandering around talking to journalists,” police chief Sir Ian Blair told BIGfib. “And we have to find out exactly why our top marksman missed.”
Asked if the more important question wasn’t why the man was shot, Sir Ian was dismissive. “No, that’s obvious,” he commented. “He’s dark skinned and he’s got a really long beard. Doh!”
