New Delhi: The number of terrorists killed as well as currently active in Jammu & Kashmir have plummeted to a significant low, despite episodes of ambush of security forces in some corners of the Valley, according to data compiled by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Indian security forces killed around 72 terrorists in 2023, compared to 187 in 2022 and 184 in 2021, sources in the CRPF told ThePrint.
Of the 72 eliminated last year, nearly 20 were local terrorists who hailed from the Valley while the remaining were of foreign origin, a source said.
In 2022, of the 187 terrorists killed by the forces, nearly 57 were of foreign origin while the remaining 130 were from Kashmir itself, the source added.
CRPF sources also said that there are approximately 91 “active” terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir at this point, with foreign terrorists accounting for nearly two-thirds of this number.
On the contrary, the number of active terrorists was 135 in 2022, with nearly 85 of them of foreign origin while 50 were local terrorists, the sources said.
A senior official in the force also suggested that the “majority” of active terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir are either direct or related members of the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The LeT, which carried out deadly attacks in Mumbai in 2008, is banned in India and designated as a “terrorist organisation” by the ministry of home affairs.
“Most of these active terrorists in Kashmir are from foreign regions and are affiliated to Lashkar, and they are battle-hardened and well-trained,” a second senior security official told ThePrint.
The LeT was co-founded by Pakistan-based Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, whom India listed as an “individual terrorist” in 2019.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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