The year 2017 saw 358 terrorist-related deaths in Jammu and Kashmir – 98% more than in 2013 when 181 deaths were recorded – according to an IndiaSpend analysis of data from the South Asian Terrorism Portal, run by the Institute for Conflict Management, a Delhi-based non-profit.
Although more than twice as many terrorists were killed in 2017 (218) as in 2013 (100), there was a sharper increase in civilian deaths – 57 in 2017, up 185% from 20 in 2013.
Despite the increasing number of terrorist killings, terrorists succeeded in attacking the Sunjwan Army Camp, where six army personnel, one civilian and three terrorists died.
As many as 324 security personnel have died at the hands of terrorists over the past five years. Terrorists killed 83 security personnel in 2017, a 36% increase from 61 in 2013.
This shows an overall worsening of the security situation in the state.
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There was some improvement in 2017 over 2016: 83 security personnel were killed in 2017, down 6% from 88 in 2016; 218 terrorists were killed, up 32% from 165 in 2016.
Terrorism-related deaths had increased 31% in the one year since the Indian Army conducted what it described as “surgical strikes” in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), IndiaSpend had reported on September 29, 2017.
(Sethi is a Mumbai-based freelance writer and geopolitical analyst. This article was published in association with IndiaSpend.)
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