Two

sniffer dogs

near the Taj Hotel with NSG commandos (TOI Photo)

NEW DELHI: A special breed of military canine that is credited to have helped US navy SEALs in sniffing out al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden 's hideout in Pakistan, is now part of the country's elite counter-terror and counter-hijack commando operations force NSG .The special actions force has recently inducted and trained close to a dozen of these four-footed soldiers called – the Belgian Malinois – and they will form an essential part of counter-terrorist operations that the 'black cat' commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) undertake in the future."These dogs are the latest inductions that have been done in the operations wing of the NSG. Special forces world over have understood the importance of these dogs in lethal terror operations and hence the force also has inducted close to a dozen of these combat canines," an NSG officer working in its special 'K9' dog squad said.The dog, which has a heavy snout and a big head, can detect suspect human presence, explosives and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) with a precise correctness and it is intelligent enough to communicate these signals through a nod of his head and not by barking which could lead to alerting of the target, the officer said.NSG officials said the commandos, till now, had been operating with other dog breeds like German Shepherd and Labradors but the new canine companion will give them the "required edge" in special operations.The NSG is the mandated federal counter-terror and counter-hijack special operations force of the country which is deployed to undertake swift, lethal and precision tasks in combating situations like the 2008 Mumbai attacks.The force has also trained special handlers for these dogs who will remain on standby with each of the commando strike units of the NSG.The Malinois, a litter of an Israeli male Malinois crossed with an Amercian bitch, shot to international fame when it was reported that the dogs of the breed assisted the US special forces, the navy SEALs, in sniffing out bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad in Pakistan in 2011.The coarser looking breed is preferred for infantry patrols and commando operations because of its ability to perform and deliver good results in high-risk tasks in difficult terrains and harsh climate areas.In India, this breed of dog was first inducted by border guarding force ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) in 2011 for working in special counter-insurgency areas.