diff --git a/lib/iscsi/conn.c b/lib/iscsi/conn.c
index c1a13c481..49145b590 100644
--- a/lib/iscsi/conn.c
+++ b/lib/iscsi/conn.c
@@ -678,8 +678,6 @@ _spdk_iscsi_conn_free(void *arg1, void *arg2)
 	pthread_mutex_lock(&g_conns_mutex);
 	spdk_iscsi_remove_conn(conn);
 	pthread_mutex_unlock(&g_conns_mutex);
-
-	__sync_fetch_and_sub(&g_num_connections[spdk_env_get_current_core()], 1);
 }
 
 static void