Saturday, December 6, 2008

SMLE - - Assam

This is coolbert:

You know this headline catches my attention right away:

"Assam combating terror with World War I firearms"

"While 10 terrorists held Mumbai to ransom for more than 60 hours last week, another band of militants in Assam wreaked havoc on Oct 30, triggering serial explosions killing 95 people and wounding 300."

Simultaneously, while the terrorist attacks in Mumbai were occurring, terrorists in another part of India were carrying out further atrocity, on a scale at least as great as what happened in Mumbai. Totally disconnected from the Mumbai attacks [??], but still horrific nonetheless.

Incidents of this nature are endemic to India? Have been for the last sixty years. India nonetheless prospers and modernizes!

THE POLIICE IN ASSAM, HOWEVER, ARE HARD-PRESSED TO COMBAT THE REBELS? ARE USING THE SMLE RIFLE. Small-Magazine-Lee-Enfield [SMLE]. A favorite topic of mine. A rifle, first developed by the English around 1900, and still in use around the world.

"This is a pathetic situation where terrorists use the most advanced weapons, while our police force continues to fight with .303 rifles similar to the Lee Enfield weapons used by the British troops during World War I"



NO, not similar to. The same as?

SMLE still in use by the Indian police, Maoist guerrillas in Nepal, Canadian Rangers of the far north.

A weapon no longer up to the task? Deadly, but when up against a modern assault rifle, no longer adequate.

coolbert.

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