Police sources said the EFR camp at Silda was identified as a soft target after the Naxal attack on Gidhni camp, in which four jawans were killed on November 9 last year.

They said the West Midnapore police had then called for withdrawal of EFR jawans, especially those above 35, for reasons of agility but the state government turned down the request. West Bengal is still awaiting six companies of CRPF promised by the Union Home Ministry and has asked for another 10 companies of the Central paramilitary force.

On Friday, CRPF IG Nageshwar Rao, accompanied by state police officers, visited the battered Silda camp.

“It is up to the state government to decide when and where our force will be deployed. If they want us to man Silda camp, we will. This is all I can say,” Rao said.

Senior state police officers, meanwhile, today inspected a number of sites under Binpur police station area, near Silda, for an alternate camp site for EFR.

These sites included the ground near Kansabati irrigation project and Nilkantodanga area, where police camps existed earlier.