India revises Kashmir death toll to 47,000
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian authorities revised up on Friday the death toll from nearly two decades of insurgency in Kashmir to more than 47,000 people.
The figure does not include people who disappeared as a result of the conflict. A human rights group puts the number of missing Kashmiris at 10,000, although authorities say many of them may have vanished to join the insurgency.
S.S. Kapur, Kashmir's chief secretary or senior most bureaucrat, said more than 20,000 civilians and 7,000 police personnel had been killed.
"Administrative action by the state police and security forces has also seen neutralisation of 20,000 terrorists in the state," he added in a statement.
Previously, officials had put the death toll at more than 43,000.
Kashmir's main separatist group, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, says more than 100,000 people have died since the insurgency broke out in 1989.
(For the latest Reuters news on India see in.reuters.com, for blogs see blogs.reuters.com/in)
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