This comes days after a colonel, major, and five other security personnel were killed in a firefight with terrorists in Kashmir’s Handawara area on May 2. Latest defence ministry data show that 219 Kashmiri boys had joined Pakistan-based and backed ‘Tanzeems’ such as Hizbul Mujahideen in 2018, peaking the trend kick started by Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani

NEW DELHI: The defence ministry is considering recalibrating its counter-insurgency strategy following a rise in the number of security personnel killed in recent anti-terror operations.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh is learnt to have conveyed the need for a brainstorming by three forces—army, air force and navy—and other internal security stakeholders, such as Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), with an aim to redraw the standard operating procedure for anti-terror operations.

This comes days after a colonel, major, and five other security personnel were killed in a firefight with terrorists in Kashmir’s Handawara area on May 2.

“The idea is not to aggressively pursue operations in the absence of pinpointed intelligence inputs,” a source told ET on condition of anonymity.

Latest defence ministry data show that 219 Kashmiri boys had joined Pakistan-based and backed ‘Tanzeems’ such as Hizbul Mujahideen in 2018, peaking the trend kick started by Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. The number, however, fell to 119 last year. The data points out that 35 youths have joined militant groups until May 3 this year.