London: The Amazons, an elite special forces anti-terror team comprising 40 women, trained to infiltrate terrorist cells and kill, will be Britain's "secret weapon" during the Olympics to keep trouble at bay.
The team has been dubbed The Amazons after the legendary tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology, the Daily Express reported Sunday.
The women have been ¬training for over the past two years, and have worked in Yemen, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
The unit has played key roles in smashing high-profile terrorist plots, including an operation to free British hostage Judith Tebbutt from Somalia.
Each woman has been "handpicked" from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and linguistic ability, to blend into a variety of ¬situations.
Always undercover, each woman can choose her own weapon after intensive high velocity arms training.
They were recruited from all branches of the armed forces.
"They are very gifted and spend weeks in high danger. Women attract less attention than men. They can get into buildings or befriend targets and get close to the wives and families more easily than a man and get right into Al Qaeda cells," a security official said.
IANS
First Published: Sunday, July 22, 2012, 18:20