A sustained crackdown on militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, aided by strong ground intelligence, has seen the killings of terrorists outstrip recruitment by terror groups this year, with ranks of separatists increasingly dependent on infiltration of ‘foreign’ operatives into the State.  Infiltration from Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Pakistan is slightly higher with 78 terrorists sneaking into J&K, 123 in entire 2016 but given the current trend, it is a matter of time before the total number of active terrorists in the Valley sees a decline. The number of terror recruits in J&K this year is around 71, while as many as 132 terrorists have died in security operations. Of the 132 terrorists killed this year, 74 were foreign nationals and 58 locals. As many as 14, were top ‘commanders’ of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) or Al-Badr. These included two in the “A++ category, four in A+ category and eight in A category”.  Fatalities among terrorists surged from an average 9.5 killings a month till April to 25 in July.