Saturday, April 29 2006 10:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The United States today (Apr 29, 2006) commended India's 'excellent' record of protecting its nuclear assets from terrorists.

"The Indian government has an excellent record of protecting its nuclear assets from terrorists and is taking steps to improve further the security of its strategic systems," the State Department said in its annual report on worldwide terrorism.

It pointed out that the Indian Parliament in May passed the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Bill designed to prevent the transfer of WMD, delivery systems and associatedtechnologies to state and non-state actors, including terrorists.

On India's counter-terrorism efforts, the State Department said they are 'hampered' by outdated and over burdened law enforcement and legal systems with the Indian court system 'slow, labourious and prone to corruption'.

It said the terrorism trials can take years to complete with many of the country's local police forces poorly staffed, equipped and trained to combat terrorism effectively.

"Despite these challenges India scored major successes including numerous arrests and seizure of hundreds of kilos of explosives and firearms during operations against the briefly resurgent Sikh terrorist group Babbar Khalsa International," the report said.

The report said the civilian fatalities from terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir continued a five-year decline in the first nine months of 2005.

"The Indian government and military credit improved tactics and a fence that runs along the Line of Control for having significantly reduced the number of terrorists who cross into Indian Kashmir, thus resulting in a lower number of attacks and fatalities in Jammu and Kashmir," it said.

The report also noted that the October 8 devastating earthquake in Pakistan was thought to have reportedly killed many Kashmir-based terrorists.

"However, the terrorists launched a series of high profile attacks across the degraded frontier defences in an effort to prove their continued relevance," the State Department noted.

It said that progress in confidence building measures between New Delhi and Islamabad 'may help India prevent further growth in terrorism' within its borders.