No let-up in political violence: 75 lost lives in third week of December: FAFEN

There was no let-up in political violence that continued to haunt the country for past many years, claiming some 75 lives in the third week of December 2012, the FAFEN findings indicated. A non-governmental organisation - FAFEN - in its weekly report of Political Violence Monitor said Tuesday that the violence during the third week of December affected as many as 241 people in some 41 incidents in different parts of the country.
"Political violence in the third week of December affected 241 people in 41 incidents across the country, killing 75 people and injuring 166 others, it added. According to the Monitor, 22 incidents were reported in Sindh, 10 in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, six in Balochistan, two in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and one in Gilgit-Baltistan. No incident of political violence was reported in Punjab in the last week of December.
In comparison to the second week, the number of incidents of political violence declined from 52 to 41. However, the FAFEN says more people died and wounded (75 and 166) in political violence in the third week. In the second week, 61 people were killed and 51 injured in incidents of political violence, it said.
Most of the casualties - 15 killed, 69 injured - were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. Twenty-four people died and 75 were injured in Fata while Sindh witnessed 25 deaths as seven others were injured. In Balochistan, nine people were killed and 12 injured and Gilgit-Baltistan reported two deaths and three injured.
"Incidents of terrorism claimed 47 lives and left 154 injured across the country. Nine incidents of targetted killings took the lives of 11 people in Karachi while in one incident in Swat a person was killed and another was injured. A tribal conflict in North Waziristan Agency claimed five lives and wounded four others. In ethnic violence in Bolan three people died while in attacks on political party workers, an MQM worker was killed while a PPP worker was injured in Karachi," the Monitory said.
Seven people died and six others were injured in sectarian attacks in the third week. Of them, four were killed in Karachi, two in Gilgit-Baltistan and one in Quetta, it added. The major tactic of political violence was bomb blasts, killing 19 people and injuring 79 others. The second most lethal tactic was gun/firearm which killed 48 people and injured 38 others. Suicide attack in combination with gun/firearm killed five people and injured 46 others. Missile/mortar killed and injured three each, it said.
Khyber Agency was the most violent place where a car bomb blast in Jamrud, killed 19 people and injured 71 others. Peshawar was the second most violent place where a high profile attack on the airport took lives of five people and injured 46 others. Two attacks on polio workers were also reported in which one was killed while another injured, according to the FAFEN.
Karachi was the third highest violent city witnessing 25 deaths, mostly in the incidents of targetted killings and sectarian attacks. Additionally, five attacks were carried out against polio workers. In Nowshera, 18 people were injured in hand grenades attack on an army recruitment centre, it said.