But the dangers of the tightened rules of engagement brought in to deal with the phenomenon of suicide bombers have been laid bare with the news that a man shot dead at Stockwell Tube station yesterday morning had nothing to do with Thursday’s failed terrorist attacks on London but had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time – and had then apparently panicked when accosted by officers.

The Met described the man’s death as a “tragedy”. Witnesses had recounted how the man, said to be of South Asian appearance, was chased down into the bowels of the Tube station and jumped on to a Northern Line train, closely followed by armed officers. He was then, one witness said, shot five times in the head at point-blank range.

"We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday 21st July 2005," Scotland Yard said in a statement. "For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."

The manner of the man's killing appeared to signal a radical departure for British police, who have prided themselves on the fact that they do not routinely carry arms – although the policy regarding potential suicide bombers was adopted three years ago.

Muslim community leaders tonight called for a review of that policy after the Scotland Yard statement. Azzam Tamimi, spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "I would like a revision of policy. I think this shoot-to-kill policy is very dangerous."

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "While we accept that the police are under tremendous pressure to apprehend the criminals who are attempting to cause carnage on the streets of London, it's absolutely vital that the utmost care is taken to ensure that innocent people are not killed due to overzealousness."

He added that while everyone must unite to help the police tackle the terrorists, the police must do everything humanly possible to protect the public and prevent accidental deaths.

Myriam Ibrahim, spokeswoman of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, said: "The police are operating at a really, really difficult time and we would be very, very wary of condemning them. However we live in a country where we are innocent until proven guilty."

Magnus Ranstorp, an anti-terrorism expert at St Andrews University, said the hardline police policy could do more harm than good. "The Muslim community is very uneasy about this - understandably," he said. "If there is a series of shooting incidents like this then it becomes a big political issue.

"This is not a major deterrent in terms of carrying out an attack, but it is counterproductive to the careful strategy that the police and government have set out in terms of minimising polarisation within ethnic communities," he added.

Pc Norman Brennan, a campaigner for the victims of crime who has called for all officers to be routinely armed, said the shooting was an unfortunate consequence of being "at war". He said: "The long and the short of it is that this country is at war with terrorists and in war there are casualties. Normally in the majority of cases it is the enemy but innocent people will suffer. I am afraid it is tragic but that is part of any battle.

"Police officers have to make a split-second decision based on the information they have at the time. The majority of times we will get it right and when we get it wrong it is in the honest belief that that person is a suspect and could cause loss of life. What would people have said had police officers held back and this individual had in fact been a suicide bomber and took the lives of another two dozen people?"

Michael Winner, the film director who campaigns for extra police powers, said yesterday that the UK’s entire approach to terrorism was “absurd”. He said: “We need new laws to detain people without trial - we are at war. We are playing cricket and they're playing mass murder. Police powers should be massively increased, as well as police numbers."

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