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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will form a highly trained and motivated special squad that will be put into action during major terrorist attacks.
The non-combat group will essentially be a brains trust that would monitor and direct anti-terrorist operations in the country.
The decision was taken at a core group meeting Monday in which it was also decided to establish a data bank on terrorist activities worldwide.
"We are in the process of selecting a dozen officers who would be adept in combating all terrorists activities in the country. The data bank will also help in arming them with information about various terrorist groups," a CBI official said.
"The need to train a dozen CBI officers was taken after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that killed thousands," the official told IANS.
The core group, which was formed by CBI director PC Sharma, met for the second time Monday and it was decided that the agency would remain in a state of high preparedness and learn more about disaster management from other countries.
The CBI, a member of the Interpol police network in India, formed the core group last week to create a database on terrorist groups in the country in response to an Interpol request.
Interpol has formed a special cell, which will collect information about terrorist activities all over the world. Interpol has also requested its 176 member countries on terrorist activities in each.
"We are in direct contact with Interpol and are exchanging information with them. We have also asked them for inputs on terrorist activities in neighbouring countries that could have a direct or indirect effect in India," he said.
Sources said the CBI had asked Interpol to provide it with information about terrorist activities and training camps in Pakistan and on separatist Tamil activists in Sri Lanka. "They are our immediate concern."
The activities of alleged ganglord Dawood Ibrahim and his henchmen, reported to be living in Pakistan, will also be sought from Interpol, sources said.
The agency has contacted senior government and police officials of various states that have been affected by terrorism for information and their efforts to tackle the situation.
The official said data on terrorist activities that occurred in the country in the past decade would be complied and sent to the Interpol headquarters in Lyons in France.
"We're contacting Delhi Police and police officials of Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, the north-eastern states and Tamil Nadu to gather information about various terrorists groups that are active in their states," the official said.
These terrorist groups include the Lashker-a-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, Al Badr, Lashkar-e-Jabbar and Harkat-ul-Mujihadeen. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has allegedly funded some of these groups.
He said the core group would be a permanent body that would act like an intelligence agency and would provide information to state police forces about terrorist activities.
Indo-Asian News Service
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