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NEW DELHI: Incidents of extremist, insurgent and terrorist violence have recorded a sharp fall from 446 in 2022 to 163 in 2023. The decline spans across categories, with left-wing extremism, jihadi terrorism and North-East insurgency showing significant reductions.The steepest fall has been in jihadi terrorist activities, which dropped from 126 in 2022 to just 15 in 2023. Violence linked to North-East insurgents also came down to 10 cases, from 26 in 2022, according to the NCRB 2023 report.While the civilian casualties have decreased, the number of police and army personnel killed has risen. The report also noted a steep increase in arms and ammunition looted by the extremists.
The report said that incidents of insurgency int he North-East reduced by over 61% compared to 2022, and Left-wing extremist violence dipped by over 44%. Jihadi terrorist activities saw the sharpest decline — over 87% — followed by “other terrorist” incidents, down by more than 77%. Registered cases too reflected this pattern, with a fall of more than 58%.The total casualties — civilians and security personnel — fell from 118 in 2022 to 103 in 2023. However, within this figure, deaths among police, state and army personnel rose by 50%. With fewer operations, extremist fatalities also dropped by more than 54%, from 131 to 60.Number of surrenders has also fallen, from 417 in 2022 to 318 in 2023, marking a 23% decline, according to the report. Of these, 316 were left-wing extremists. Among North-East insurgency-related crimes in 2023, 85% were categorised under “unlawful activities”.A major concern flagged in the NCRB report is the spike in looted weapons. In 2023, extremists seized 706 arms and 19,946 rounds of ammunition from police and central armed police forces. This is dramatically higher than 2022, when only 36 arms and 99 rounds were reported stolen.
