35 Army personnel martyred in 9 terror strikes since 2016

Srinagar, July 24: At least 35 Army personnel have been martyred in terrorist strikes at Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Defence Ministry, in the past 30 months, there have been nine attacks on army camps.

The figures were made available by Union Minister of State for Defence, Subhash Bhamre in a written reply at the Lok Sabha. In the nine terror attacks, 35 personnel were martyred and 40 others suffered injuries. These attacks also claimed the lives of 15 terrorists and a civilian.

In the year 2016, 26 Army personnel were killed and 25 injured in 5 terror strikes on Army camps. In the year 2017, three personnel were martyred while seven injured in one strike that took place at a military camp.

In 2018, 6 personnel were martyred and 8 others injured in three terror strikes camps. Out of the 15 terrorists killed, 10 were gunned down in 2016. The statistics reveal that the in 2017, two were killed while in 2018 the number stood at three.

Bhamre said all militant attacks on army camps were investigated in detail.

"Prima facie it was found that these attacks were carried out by militant outfits," he said.

Bhamre said the Government of India (GoI) had issued broad guidelines for security of "defence installations and in compliance with the said Guidelines, the defence forces have taken a number of actions including risk categorisation of military bases; appraisal and up gradation of intelligence gathering capabilities; strengthening and streamlining of the response mechanism; use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs); periodic security audit of all military installations etc."

He said army also carries out an in-depth analysis of the militant attacks and security breaches that are identified with various incidents.

"Perimeter security projects of all three armed forces have been sanctioned by the Government," Bhamre said.