UK paramedics being trained for Mumbai-style terrorist attack

The UK government is training paramedics for a Mumbai-style terrorist attack, amid earlier warnings by the Scotland Yard that such a strike was possible in the country.

National Health Service paramedics are to be given bulletproof jackets in case they have to help out during a Mumbai-style terrorist attack.

According to The Sunday Times, ambulance medicas are being trained to treat battlefield casualties during what the Home Office calls a marauding terrorist gun attack.

The volunteer medics are being trained over the next four years to treat victims of the type of attack launched by terrorists in Mumbai in 2008.

Scotland Yard has been warning hotels, restaurants and financial institutions about the possibility of a Mumbai-style attack in Britain.

In a prolonged shooting and bombing assault, at least 164 people were killed in more than 10 attacks by Islamists on hotels and restaurants in Mumbai.

The policy was hinted at in a Home Office paper published in the summer and confirmed for the first time by the Department of Health this weekend.

"The government has to prepare for the worst, and we also need to be certain that lessons are learnt from previous terrorist attacks at home and abroad," it said.

"Where specialist ambulance crews may be asked to respond to incidents involving firearms, it is necessary that they receive proper training and are provided with appropriate personal protective equipment."

The department confirmed that some initial training and body armour had already been  given to small teams of volunteer ambulance and fire crews in key areas.