Militants in Jammu and Kashmir are relying more on grenade throwing and IED explosions than using rockets as the former hardly exposes them to security forces, a government fact sheet said.

A total of 1,678 persons were killed and 15,830 injured in grenade and other explosions between January 1990 and February 15 this year, it said.

Militants are using grenades and IEDs, as these attacks hardly expose them to security forces who have otherwise recovered over 11,000 kg of RDX and nearly 60,000 grenades in the state since January 1990, the report pointed out.

The militants have carried out 5,963 grenade attacks and 5,672 IED explosions during the past 17 years, the report said. The highest number of such explosions (1,522) was witnessed in 1990.

The report said militants carried out a total of 796 rocket attacks since 1990. The incidents of rocket attacks have shown a decrease since 2003 when only 13 such incidents were reported in the state.

The subsequent years accounted for 677 (1991), 757 1992), 1006 (1993), 1168 (1994), 945 (1995), 502 (1996), 423 (1997), 451 (1998), 494 (1999), 537 (2000), 775 (2001), 537 (2002), 427 (2003), 400 (2004), 238 (2005), 309 (2006) and 18 (2007) incidents of grenade and other explosions.

While the highest number of 153 people fell to blasts in 1995, the lowest number of deaths due to explosions was recorded in 1990 when 12 persons were killed. The year 2006 accounted for 83 deaths in explosions, only seven below the previous year.

As many as 121 persons were killed in 2004, 112 (2003), 117 (2002), 133 (2001), 129 (2000), 92 (1999), 103 (1998), 85 (1997), 106 (1996), 120 (1994), 79 (1993), 98 (1992) and 41 (1991), the report said.

Four persons were killed this year till February 15. The report said only one rocket attack was carried out by militants last year, which stood at three in 2005.

The highest number of 162 rocket attacks took place in 1991 followed by 105 (1992), 87 (1994), 71 (1993), 56 (1999), 49 (1995), 45 (1990), 39 (1996), 35 (2001 and 2002), 32 (1997), 31 (2000). No rocket attack was reported in 2004.      

The report said the recovery of RDX was first made in 1996 when security forces seized 166 kg of the material from various hideouts across the state.

The recovery of RDX continued in the subsequent years with the largest haul of 2,547 kg unearthed in 2001, the report said, adding that 73 kg of RDX was seized during the current year till February 15.

In the year 1997, 342 kg of RDX was seized followed by 769 kg in 1998, 888 kg in 1999, 1508 kg in 2000, 647 kg in 2002, 1624 in 2003, 1386 kg in 2004, 856 kg in 2005 and 891 kg in 2006, the report said.

In addition, the security forces also recovered over 30,000 kg of other explosive material between January 1990 and February 15, 2007, the report said. The biggest recovery of 6,448 kg in a single bid was made in 1997.