Surgical strikes against Naxals likely

Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Vishwa Ranjan said on Thursday that security agencies are considering initiating surgical strikes against Maoists.  "There is no single-dimensional operation. The operations will be more intense against the Maoists. There will be surgical strikes based on intelligence inputs," Ranjan said while speaking to a private news channel.  "There may be more complex sort of operations and more dismantling of the camps," he added.

Ranjan's statement came just a day after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram reportedly pulled up security officials for improper coordination. In a review meeting of joint forces, Chidambaram reportedly called on all agencies to improve coordination.

Ranjan ruled out a lack of coordination between forces, as being responsible for Tuesday's Maoist massacre.  "We will give them a befitting reply. It will be a well calibrated response and well thought of. We will surprise the Maoists," he said.  The Union Home Ministry has expressed unhappiness over the sidelining intelligence inputs given by Central agencies.

Earlier, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had warned forces engaged in anti Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh about the presence of over 200 specially trained red ultras in the area.  "Unless you see the ground where the combat took place, any amount of thinking about what might have happened will be only conjecture based on our past knowledge," Ranjan said.

"The CRPF is a trained force. They have fought many successful battles. You cannot say that the team of police was not trained," he added. Ranjan further underlined the need for a session to analyze reasons for Tuesday's tragedy."We must analyze what went wrong once we go to the ground. We must ensure that we don''t get into such a trap again," he said.

After Tuesday's attack questions were raised over the coordination between forces operating in Naxal affected areas. Meanwhile, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has chaired a review meeting of the situation in Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Malkangiri districts bordering Chhattisgarh.Patnaik asked officials to adhere to the standard operation procedure during force movements.

The West Bengal Government also intensified operations in Naxal dominated areas of the state.