NEW DELHI: The Northeastern states have seen a steady decline in insurgency-related violence in the first eight months of this year in comparison to the corresponding period of last year but saw a three-fold increase in casualties of security forces.
According to an estimate of the Home Ministry, Assam Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram saw a total of 418 incidents of insurgency violence from January 1 to September 15, 2015 during which 115 extremists were killed and 1,453 were arrested.
During the same period in 2014, a total of 575 incidents were reported in the seven Northeastern states in which 128 militants were killed and 1,401 others were arrested.
However, 40 security personnel lost their lives till September 15 this year in comparison to 12 security personnel killed in the corresponding period of 2014.
There were 182 incidents of kidnapping in the Northeast till September 15 this year in comparison to 250 last year.
91 insurgents have surrendered before security forces so far this year, compared to 170 last year.
Higher number of casualties were witnessed in civilians in 2014 when 114 people lost their lives. So far this year, 32 people were killed due to insurgency violence.
The highest number of incidents were reported this year in Manipur which saw 169 incidents in comparison to 278 last year. 18 Army soliders were killed in Chandel district of Manipur in June this year due to the violence perpetrated by NSCN-K.
Nagaland has witnessed 76 incidents this year in comparison to 77 last year while Assam saw 63 incidents so far this year compared to 246 in 2014.