There were as many as 269 bombings across India last year and the National Security Guard’s National Bomb Data Centre says J&K topped the list with 78. But this year, Assam alone has seen over 60 explosions, up from 41 last year. In Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh, bombings climbed from 51 in 2005 to 61 last year — and the targets continue to include infrastructure like power transmission lines.

It’s in this backdrop that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will chair a meeting tomorrow of chief ministers on internal security. This upsurge in violence is also taking a terrible toll — 7,000 dead, including 1,711 securitymen, in militancy-related violence in J&K, North-East and the Naxal-affected states since 2004. Add to that another 450, the number of civilians killed in terror strikes, including the Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad blasts.

Assam has reported over 400 deaths in militant violence this year. According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal, 254 civilians, 17 security personnel and 137 militants died in the state until December 11 — a quantum jump from the 174 dead last year. The Union Home Ministry’s own figures say that 501 civilians and security personnel died in militant violence in the North-Eastern states.

Though government figures show a dip in the number of civilians killed in Naxal-related violence (134 until November 21 as against 367 last year), more securitymen have died this year — 204 as against 157 last year.

The only consolation, if it can be called that, comes from J&K where this year’s death toll stood at 252 (civilian and security personnel) in 684 incidents until November 20 — a sharp drop from last year’s figure of 551 in 1,316 incidents.

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