CRPF men sent SOS,others didn’t respond

There are also reports that SPOs accompanying the team had suggested a different route. The idea,however,was turned down given the additional distance the party would have had to trek,sources said.

The road opening party went down fighting,inflicting serious damage on the attackers.

Reports indicate that some of the securitymen killed had their throats slit and others had head injuries inflicted by axe-like weapons but none had their limbs chopped off.

With its personnel being increasingly targeted in Naxal strongholds,the CRPF,it is learnt,has proposed that camps located in interior areas of the state will have to be manned by at least two companies (around 200 personnel) instead of the current practice where a single company mans these posts.

Many of the nearly 40 CRPF camps located in the interior areas of Bastar will be the first to implement this change in strategy,sources said.

The CRPF is also learnt to have proposed that only those camps located alongside roads be manned by a single company. The broad idea behind this shift,sources said,is to ensure that the force is not spread out too thinly in vulnerable areas where chances of conflict are much more.

Union Home Secretary G K Pillai,who is visiting Chhattisgarh to take stock,is also likely to work out modalities for the new strategy with the state government. This includes a proposal to depute senior state police officers with CRPF contingents in vulnerable areas.