NEW DELHI: Incidents of stone-pelting in the Kashmir Valley have reduced by half this year due to “effective” action by security forces and probe agencies against separatists and others, the Crpf DG said on Wednesday.

CRPF director general Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar said that the stone pelting in the valley has come down to less than half in 2016 (424 till now), as compared to last year (1,590 total).

“Our assessment is that situation in the Kashmir Valley has improved,” he said, adding the CRPF was coordinating with the NIA in its crackdown against separatists and their operatives.

“We have not allowed violent mobs to interfere in the conduct of anti-militancy operations.

“With the use of less lethal weapons (pellet guns and pump action guns) we’re able to minimise injuries to troops and also to the mob,” he said.

“The number of our personnel injured has also come down to one-third of what was the picture last year,” the 1983-batch IPS officer of UP cadre said.

Bhatnagar said terrorist incidents in the Valley have also “come down”, adding that some changes have been effected in security drills till the remaining part of the Amarnath yatra.