Non-lethal bomb

-- Indian security forces will soon have a new weapon to take on insurgents in the country's Northeast--a chilli bomb.

The Defence Research and Development Organization (drdo) is testing hand grenades

stuffed with bhut jolakia (chillies) from Assam--recognized as the world's hottest.

"The trials have been conducted for the hand grenades. It gives out such pungent smoke that it makes one come out of one's hiding place," RB Srivastava of the directorate of life sciences in drdo told the news agency ians.

The bomb is non-lethal. The smoke from it only brings tears to the person coming in

contact and chokes his respiratory tract. "The paramilitary forces face the problem of forcing terrorists out of their

hideouts. We wanted to find a non-lethal way to tackle the insurgents and the mob during riot controls," Srivastava

added.

He headed the Defence Research Laboratory in Tezpur, Assam, that in 2001 found the bhut jolakia to be the hottest in the world.