The recent Maoist onslaught, if a war at all, is a war that has been thrust upon the state, home minister P Chidambabram said on Wednesday.

He has also stated that the government will not be bringing in the Indian Army in the fight against the Maoists adding that the police of the states with Maoist presence and central para-military forces are capable of handling the challenge.

Chidambaram was here a day after the massacre of 75 CRPF personnel in a Maoist attack in Dantewada to pay his respects to the slain poilcemen.

However, the minister said that the mandate to engage the Air Force in combatting the Maoist rebels. Currently, there is no mandate on the enagagement of air power for anti-Naxal strikes

Saying that the goal of the Maoists was to overthrow the established government, he said "we can not and shall not allow them to succeed their goal.

"It is the legitimate duty of the state to protect the people and reclaim the territory dominated by the naxalites," he said.

The Home Minister said if it is war then it is a war thrust on the state. The state -- Central and the state governments are discharging their legal and Constitutional duties to protect the people and the whole nation.

"Nevertheless, I would say that even as we remain calm, we hold our nerve," he said.

Condemning the brutal and savage attack of the Maoists on the CRPF men, he said yesterday's operation by the security forces was not intelligence based but was for area domination in order to understand and familiarise themselves with the terrain.

"As I said yesterday, something went wrong. Only an inquiry will establish what went wrong," he said, adding the inquiry will also establish whether there were 1000 naxals were involved in the attack or not.

Chidambaram also categorically denied that there was any operation code named "Operation Greenhunt" saying it was a name given by one officer sometime in some offensive.

He also said there was good coordination between the Centre and the states in the anti-naxal operations.

Even the Dantewada operation was decided by the Inspector General and DIG of Bastar range in Chhattisgarh in association with DIG CRPF and to be directed by SP of Dantewada.

But IAF chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik is not in favour of deploying the Air Force in anti-Naxal operations as it is not trained for "limited lethality warfare."

"The military--Air Force, Army and Navy--are not trained for limited lethality. The weapons that we have are meant for the enemy across the border," Naik said in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.

"Therefore, I am not in favour of use of Air Force in situations like the Naxal problem," he said.

Naik said Air Force involvement was already there in form of "casualty evacuation, in case of logistic support... but direct attack role, I don't think the situation calls for it."

He said there was a massive effort on in Dantewada to bring the casualties back home. Two Air Force planes and three helicopters are there for the work, he added.

The Air Chief Marshall was at the South Western Air Command (SWAC) for a two-day Commanders' Conference.

Naik also advised the Commanders to maintain a very high level of operational and preparedness at all times, keeping in view that Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra are frontline states.

He further said that the SWAC was a very important command, covering Rajasthan to Goa.

"The Indian Air Force is slowly emerging as a strategic force with power projection capabilities," Naik added.

The air chief said it is the prerogative of the State when the naxal situation reaches that level to involve the Armed Forces.

"They can order us in at any time. At the present moment, we must leave it to the para-military forces because they are trained, they are slowly being equipped. They have the intelligence also to undertake these operations," he added.

Naik also visualised a scenario if the IAF is called in.

"Let us say that air force is called in for attack in Naxal locality and it needs to fire a rocket, which is fired at a minimum distance from 1500-1800 metres...from that distance we are not able to visualise what the target is," Naik said.

"Unless we have 120 per cent intelligence that they (Naxals) are enemies, it is not fair to use air force within our borders. The basic thing is Naxals are our own citizens," he said, when asked if it was time for the military to join the anti-Naxal operations.

Home secretary Gopal K Pillai yesterday ruled out use of air power in the fight against Naxalites.

"I don't think we need to use air power at the moment (in the anti-naxal operation). We can manage with what we have. Our strategy is unfolding and we should be able to manage without air power," he said.

Earlier reports -

In the worst Maoist attack, at least 75 CRPF and district force personnel were today killed when a large group of Naxals ambushed them in the thick Mukrana forests of Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

While 74 of those killed were CRPF personnel including a deputy and an assitant commandant, one was a head constable of the district police force.

75 bodies of the personnel, who were part of a 80-member CRPF and a district police team, have been recovered from the site of the attack suspected to have been carried out by about 1000 Naxals, police spokesman and Inspector General R K Vij said.

Eight of the injured CRPF men have been evacuated for treatment from the forest area, he said.

"The CRPF men were in the forests for operational duty when the Naxals attacked. It is very tragic and sad," CRPF Director General Vikram Srivastava told PTI.

Expressing shock over the brutal attack, Home Minister P Chidambaram said something must have gone "drastically wrong."

"The casualty is very high and I am deeply shocked at the loss of lives....This shows the savage nature of CPI (Maoist) and the brutality and the savagery they are capable of," he said.

CRPF Special Director General Vijay Raman, who is also the Commander of the Anti-Naxal Task Force, is on way to the forest area. Additional reinforcement have already been sent and search operations are on in the area.

Official sources said the attack took place when the CRPF unit belonging to the 62 RPT 62 Battalion entered the forest for an operation between six and seven am and were ambushed by the Maoists.

Helicopters have been pressed into service to evacuate the injured and bring back the bodies, Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Viswa Ranjan said.

The attack comes two days after Maoists triggered a landmine blast in Orissa's Koraput district, killing 11 security personnel of the elite anti-Naxal Special Operations Group.

On February 15, 24 personnel of Eastern Frontier Rifles were killed in a Maoist attack on their camp in West Bengal's West Midnapore district.

The CRPF party was taken aback by the sudden attack by the Maoists, who surfaced on a hillock firing indiscriminately and setting off Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).

Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra told PTI that the Naxals blew up a vehicle carrying the CRPF personnel.

The incident took place near Chintalnar-Tarmetla village in the district. The CRPF team had been camping in interiors of Tarmetla jungles for the last three days as part of a combing operation, Mishra said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also expressed "shock and grief" over the death of 73 paramilitary personnel in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

The Prime Minister has expressed shock and grief over the loss of lives in a Naxal attack in Dantewada, a PMO spokesman said.

Singh spoke to Home Minister P Chidambaram and is understood to have sought details about the incident.