Shoot to kill in order to protect

"This is a tragedy," Blair said Sunday. "The Metropolitan Police accepts full responsibility for this. To the family I can only express my deep regrets."


But he defended the shoot-to-kill policy, saying such action only applied when lives were thought to be at risk.


"I am very aware that minority communities are talking about a shoot-to-kill policy," he said. "It's only a shoot-to-kill-in-order-to-protect policy."


Blair said British police have drawn from the experiences of other countries that have dealt with suicide attackers.


"The only way to deal with this is to shoot to the head," he said. "There is no point in shooting at someone's chest because that is where the bomb is likely to be."