Four troopers were killed and two injured in the suicide attack on the training camp by two Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militants earlier on Sunday.

Terming the attack unfortunate, Vaid said that as long as Pakistan keeps sending militants, security forces and people of Kashmir will continue to go through this.

“There was an input in the last two-three days. They (militants) were trying. They probably could not get a place and time earlier. So, they struck last night,” he said.

Vaid was outlining the achievements of Jammu and Kashmir police in 2017, and said that almost the entire militant leadership was eliminated in Operation All Out in which 206 local and foreign militants were killed in 2017. However, challenges will remain as long as “our neighbour keeps sending people” here, he said.

While 75 police, army and other security forces’ personnel were killed in various violencerelated incidents, as many as 24 civilians also lost their lives during gun battles between security forces and militants.

Vaid said that of the 206 total militants killed this year, 40% (85) were locals. In November, police had said that 66 of the total foreign militants were killed on LoC while infiltrating.

The officers did not deliberate on causes of local Kashmiri youth continuously joining militancy.

Vaid said things are “much better” than the situation in 2016 (after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani) and there has been a “down-slide trend” of locals joining militancy.

Asked why there were high civilian deaths near encounter sites, IG Munir Khan said, ”This year, we have started operating in areas where for some reasons for the last two years, police could not enter. We faced resistance at some places and during the course of encounters, there were some civilian causalities because of crossfire. We have been appealing to people to avoid going to encounter sites.”