NEW DELHI: Rattled by the recent incidents of naxal violence in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, the Centre is fine-tuning its strategy for intensifying anti-naxal operations in naxal-affected States.

The Home Ministry's concern also emanates from the fact that the naxalites have shown a great deal of expertise in using large quantities of explosives as well as land mines. The Government has finalised a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in consultation with the affected States with an objective to formulate operational plans and undertake intelligence based inter-State joint anti-naxal operations in the specified inter-State border areas.

Such areas will have a separate inter-State task force or mechanism on a bilateral or trilateral basis to facilitate need-based intelligence driven joint operations, sources here said.

Central forces are also said to be peeved at the fact that they have little role in coordinating operations, particularly during inter-State operations, as there is hardly any intelligence sharing by the State security agencies on the ground.

In the forefront of tackling the naxal menace, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been provided 10 mine-proof vehicles, 105 medium machine guns and 30 automatic grenade launchers.

Of the 25 battalions raised recently by the CRPF, 11 have been earmarked for anti-naxal operations and internal security duties in Jammu and Kashmir where the CRPF is scheduled to take over entire security duties from the Border Security Force (BSF).

Sources said the CRPF had also been given the go-ahead for creating its own "intelligence wing," to be headed by an officer of the rank of the Inspector-General.

It would have about 1200 personnel drawn from various battalions.

The "crack-force" of CRPF had been trained and would be fully equipped in a month or two for deployment.

Officials pointed out that 2005 had been the sixth bloodiest year so far as naxal violence was concerned.

As many as 675 naxal cadres were killed and 153 policemen, including 45 CRPF personnel, lost their lives mainly in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The naxals also detonated 146 improvised explosives devices (IEDs) last year.

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