New Delhi: With 41 deaths this year, India's northeastern states are now the most unsafe conflict theatres for security forces.

These states accounted for 23 deaths in 2014, according to data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Eighteen Indian Army soldiers were killed and 11 injured in Manipur's Chandel district in a terrorist ambush on June 4, the worst such attack in three decades.

Thirty-four security personnel died this year while countering Maoists in various states affected by left-wing extremism.

Jammu and Kashmir, another serious terrorism-affected zone in India, has seen 18 security personnel lose their lives this year.

Kshmir ranks third this year in the deaths of security personnel after Chattisgarh (28 deaths) and Manipur (20 deaths).

Overall, India has lost 3,093 security personnel due to terrorist violence over the period 2005-2014, but yearly deaths have declined by 63 percent since 2005.

Responsibility for the June 4 attack was claimed by Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) or NSC (N), a Naga separatist outfit, and Kanglei Yawol KannaLup (KYKL), a Manipuri Meitei separatist outfit, both operating out of Myanmar.

The Indian Army launched retributive action against the groups in two locations along the Indo-Myanmar border.

The operation was conducted in coordination with Myanmar after the army received "credible and specific" intelligence inputs that further attacks were being planned, according to an official army statement. (IANS)

(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public-interest journalism platform.
Abheet Singh Sethi can be contacted at webmaster@indiaspend.org. The views expressed are personal)