Wednesday, October 5 2005 11:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Srinagar: Despite some sensational strikes by militants and major successes achieved by security forces, there has been a progressive decline in the number of violent incidents and persons killed in Jammu and Kashmir in the past three years.

The violence has come down by more than 50 per cent, according to official figures. Against 3,401 incidents of militancy-related violence in 2003, there were only 1415 such cases registered during the current year.

While 2,716 people were killed in the militancy-related incidents in 2003, during 2005 only 1,313 people, including civilians, security forces and militants, were killed.

Last year, 2,565 incidents of violence were recorded across the state in which 2,039 people were killed.

Security forces achieved major successes against the militants in the state, eliminating several top commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Harakat-e-Jehad-e-Islamic outfits.

Hizb was the most to suffer in counter-insurgency operations as it lost top 10 commanders including self-styled operational commander, district commanders and divisional commanders.

Over 1,000 local militants and 470 foreign ultras were killed in 2003 while the figure stood at 516 and 141 respectively for the current year. In 2004, the figures were 687 for local militants and 289 for foreign ultras.