Srinagar: Casualties suffered by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have been on the decline in the past three years with 41 personnel killed during counter-insurgency operations in 2015.
Though the state witnessed growing radicalisation of the youth during the period, particularly after the emergence of ISIS, the security forces were effective in countering militants and terrorists.
The number of security personnel killed dropped from 51 in 2014 to 41 in 2015, whereas the number of militants killed in counter-insurgency operations marginally rose to 113 from 110 in 2014, official data reveals.
Over the past three years, the casualties suffered by security forces have been on the decline as 61 of them were killed in 2013. The number of militants killed in security forces action has seen a steady rise since 2012 when 84 militants were killed. In 2013, 100 guerrillas were killed by the forces.
In 2015, the security forces in the state faced a new challenge from militant commander Burhan Wani, who emerged as the young face of Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley as he led an 11-member group into a new field, social networking sites. Burhan and his group posted their pictures on Facebook, brandishing guns, and uploaded videos of training with assault rifles and cracking jokes as the analysts believe that the outfit was trying to engage in a psychological warfare to break the morale of the security agencies. Later, Burhan also released a short video message in which he talked about jihad and asked the Kashmiri youth to join militancy.
A defence spokesperson said terror incidents showed a declining trend in 2015 while development activities picked up momentum.
He said that though terrorists and separatists made desperate attempts to reassert itself, security forces were successful in restricting such incidents.
Even though security agencies reiterated that continuing local recruitment by militant groups remained a cause of concern, the internal security situation in Jammu and Kashmir was stable, he said.
Counter-terrorism operations were effective as there was high level of synergy amongst all security forces and government agencies, the spokesperson added.
