New Delhi, May 12 (IANS): The involvement of the local Kashmiri youths in various terror outfits has been a major concern for the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, however a substantial decrease in the numbers was recorded this year as only 28 youths joined the terrorist camps till May 8.

According to sources in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), as many as 142 local youths joined these outfits in 2021 while the figure was 181 in 2020.

The CRPF also said that 187 local Kashmiris were hired by the militant organisations in 2018 which declined to 121 in 2019. However, when Article 370 was abrogated, the number again shot up to 181 in 2020.

Sources also said that the number of foreign terrorists active in J&K has substantially declined in the past two years while the number of local terrorists has increased in the last two years.

They also admitted that earlier the foreign terrorists used to constitute 60 to 70 per cent of the total number of ultras active in Jammu and Kashmir, but in the past two years the situation has changed.

The CRPF sources also said that nearly 163 terrorists are believed to be currently active on the ground, 85 are foreign terrorists and 78 are local Kashmiri recruits who have joined these outfits recently.

Considering it as an achievement, the officials in the force said that earlier the number of active ultras used to be 350 to 360. The number has decreased because of the sustained and coordinated anti-terror operations by the security forces in the J&K.

They also informed that as many as 71 terrorists have been neutralised so far and out of these 19 were foreign terrorists and 52 were the local terror recruits.