In 3 years, 581 militants killed in JK: GoI

New Delhi, July 25: Government forces have killed 581 militants since 2015 while 69 personnel died in ceasefire violations, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre told the Lok Sabha today.

In 2015, 108 militants were killed by government forces followed by 150 in 2016, 213 in 2017 and 110 in 2018 (up to July 22), Bhamre said in a written response to a question in the Lower House.

He said 44 personnel of the Army and 25 of the Border Security Force (BSF) were killed in ceasefire violations since 2015.

Bhamre said as per the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) database on military expenditure, the military spending of China stood at USD 2,16,031.30 million and USD 2,28,230.70 million in 2016 and 2017 respectively. On the other hand, India spent USD 56,637.60 million and USD 63,923.70 million in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Replying to another question, he said there was 17,57,055.324 acres of defence land. Nearly 8,38,987.292 acres of land was acquired by the Defence Ministry after independence, he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)