Over 47,000 people, including security forces and militants, were killed in militancy related incidents in the past two decades in Jammu and Kashmir, the State Chief Secretary S S Kapur said.

Of this, 20,000 were civilians, 7,000 were police personnel and special police officers who died in different attacks by terrorists in the state during the period, Kapur said during an inaugural session of a week-long vertical interaction course (VIC) on tactical preparedness to counter terrorism, sponsored by the Bureau of Police Research and Development at Sher-i-Kashmir Police Academy at Udhampur, about 65 kms from Jammu, on Thursday.

He said that administrative action by the state police and security forces had also seen elimination of 20,000 terrorists in the state.

Dwelling on the subject of terrorism, he said that it had threatened the very foundations of Indian democracy and we need to be extremely vigil in meeting this challenge.

"New counter terrorism operations require more information, intelligence and technology rather than use of force and weapons alone," he said, adding that an integrated approach involving social and economic developmental measures was required to keep the social fabric of society intact.

The state police, which constitutes a major bulwark of the state machinery against the menace of terrorism, needs to be strengthened in numbers as well as in equipment and training to meet the challenges.

The chief secretary said, "Most of the state police forces need to be improved on cyber skills, human resource development, motivation and willingness to take risks to fight against terrorism."

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