[AALee]

American M-4 assault rifles are being inducted into the Indian Army's Special Forces battalions for use in counter terrorists operations in Delhi, Army spokesmen told PTI. M-4 carbine rifles will be used by Army's eight Special Forces battalions. Currently Israeli Tavor-21, Uzi and mini-Uzi rifles are being used and M-4 will be used as a supplement.

The Tavor-21s had replaced AK-47s. A host of new capabilities are being provided to the Army's Special Forces.

The Parachute Regiment has ten battalions under it and eight of them have been trained as Special Forces, which are supposed to carry out counter-terrorist operations during peacetime and sabotage enemy installations beyond enemy lines during wars.

The Special Forces battalions include the 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 21 para units, which are deployed in different sectors of the country and have also been given responsibility to handle any 26/11 type attacks if they occur near their area of deployment.

The Army wants to increase the number of Special Forces troops to more than 10 battalions with around 700 men in each.