Internal flaws in operation: Army chief

“This is a matter of concern... in what has happened, there were some internal deficiencies, which may be in their training or some other things and they (paramilitary forces) are thinking over it,” he said when asked if the Dantewada incident, that claimed lives of 76 personnel, was a matter of concern.

Noting that over 40,000 police and CRPF personnel have been trained by the Army in counter-insurgency operations, General Singh said there were “problem areas” in training the CRPF personnel but added the 62nd battalion, whose men were massacred by the Maoists on Tuesday were not trained by his force. “At times, we don’t get homogeneous entities for training. It means that if it is a company (for training), it does not come to us as a company (together),” he said.

He said performance of the Army in counter-insurgency operations was better as “it is the complete lot that comes to us for training.” He said the Army was trying to see what more help it could provide to the CRPF and state police forces and “we are suggesting some measures to the Home Ministry and I am sure once implemented things will become better.”