A total of 5,674 soldiers of the Indian Army have been killed by fire from the Pakistan Army in ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) since 2001, and by Kashmiri Muslim terrorists supported by Pakistan, according to the Indian Army.

Of this total, 4,500 army soldiers died at the hands of the Pakistan Army while 1,174 soldiers died in clashes with Muslim terrorists supported by Pakistan.

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It is unclear if this death toll includes fatal casualties suffered by India's Border Security Force (BSF), the world's largest border defense unit, which also patrols the LoC. There are 16 BSF battalions operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

The death toll will certainly exceed 6,000 if BSF fatalities are included.

This grim total of 5,674 means Pakistan and Pakistan supported militants have killed one jawan per day along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir from 2001 until 2016. The disclosure by the army, however, did not state the exact time frame covered by this death toll.

The latest BSF fatality was killed in a gunfight with Muslim militants last Nov. 6. Two Indian Army soldiers were killed on the same day in an artillery and mortar bombardment by Pakistan Army units along the LoC.

The 1,174 army personnel killed in Muslim Kashmiri militant attacks included the 19 soldiers killed in a surprise early morning attack at Uri, a town in Jammu and Kashmir, last Sept. 18 that triggered the almost daily exchanges of fire along the LoC.

The death toll report issued by the army in response to a Right to Information request by activist Pankaj Darve from Vadodara city in Gujarat, also did not specify the number of cross border exchanges of fire that led to the deaths of Indian Army men at the hands of the Pakistan Army.

On the other hand, Indian Army sources told media that 7,908 militant terror attacks have occurred in India since 2001.

Darve described the number of Indian Army martyrs as "shocking and indicate that we lose military personnel more frequently in ceasefire violations than we are told. I plan to write to the government to make all these instances known to the people."

TagsIndian Army, Line of Control, Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan Army, Kashmiri Muslim terrorists, death tokk, Border Security Force