Srinagar: Despite the thaw in Indo-Pak relations and ceasefire on the borders, militants continued to target civilians in Jammu and Kashmir killing 312 people and injuring 706 others in the first five months of this year, an official spokesman said today (June 8, 2004).

However, the ultras also suffered heavy losses with 23 top commanders of different militant outfits, including Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), killed by security forces during the period, he said.

Most of the civilians were killed either in grenade explosions or after being abducted, the spokesman said.

While incidents of militancy have declined by nearly 12 per cent during the period as compared to the corresponding period last year, grenade attacks have increased by about 80 per cent. The number of grenade attacks in the first five months of this year was 131 against 73 during the same period last year, he said.

During this period, militants abducted 105 persons, 97 of them Muslims, and killed at least 60 of them. While 18 were set free, fate of 27 other hostages was still not known.

He said on the other hand, militants suffered heavily as police and security forces eliminated at least 23 top commanders of different militant outfits during the period.

Besides JeM, LeT, militant outfits which suffered at the hands of security forces were Hizbul Mujahideen and Al Badr.